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Sarr Elyse took a sip from a plastic cup. Like a practised wine taster, she swilled the dark liquid aroundin her mouth then swallowed.
"I love Coca-Cola and this is not Coca-Cola," she said with a slight grimace(鬼脸).
It certainly wasn't and that's the point of Mecca-Cola-a soft drink named after Islam's holiest land and created to protest against US foreign policy in the Middle East. Senegal is one of the first sub-Saharan African countries to put Mecca-Cola on the market,and it's an obvious choice. The population is 95 percent Muslim and opposition to the war in Iraq has been more vocal here than elsewhere in the region.
Thousands took to the streets to protest against the fighting in Iraq and now Mecca-Cola, which has sales of about five million bottles in Europe. will gives thirsty Senegalese a thought-provoking, alternative thirst reliever to the US brand.
"Being a Muslim, I was attracted by the name Mecca-Cola," said Hassane Brahim Fardoun, the businessman behind the drink's distribution in Senegal."I will do my best to penetrate the Senegalese market with this new product."
The drink's launch coincided with increasing popular opposition to US foreign policy and the first six-packs of Mecca-Cola were delivered to two shops in Senegal's capital Dakar the same week US troops stormed Baghdad. More will follow if it sells well.
He says the advertising campaign has not yet started because posters have not arrived from France, but he has high hopes for word of mouth marketing.
Elyse is one of the first to taste the new drink at a tiny shop in the city centre. Unfortunately for Fardoun, she is Catholic, and a little reserved about whole-heartedly backing the political viewpoints behind Mecca-Cola's existence.
Mecca-Cola has already found fans in Africa, as well as in Europe. The cola with a crusade (改革运动)is the brainchild of French businessman Tawfik Mathlouthi, who launched the drink last November in France as a protest against US foreign policy.
Mecca-Cola is not unique. There is a wide range of similar ideological drinks, like Muslim Up or British-based Qibla-Cola, whose website cries "Liberate your taste". Ironically, the drink that typifies the American way of life was flavoured originally with cola nuts, widely prized in West Africa as a stimulus and a dowry gift at weddings.
