September 4, 2024
Coca-Cola and Pepsi boycott over Gaza boost local soft drink sales in Egypt, Pakistan
Coca-Cola and rival PepsiCo. spent hundreds of millions of dollars over decades creating demand for their soft drinks in Muslim-majority countries, including Egypt to Pakistan. Now, both face a challenge from local soft drinks in those countries due to consumer boycotts targeting the global brands as symbols of America, and by extension Israel, at a time of war in Gaza. In Egypt, coke sales have cratered this year, while local brand V7 exported three times as many bottles of its own cola to the Middle East and the wider region than last year. In Bangladesh, an outcry forced Coca-Cola to
