Coca-Cola and rival PepsiCo spent hundreds of millions of dollars over decades building demand for their soft drinks in Muslim-majority countries including Egypt to Pakistan.
Now, both face a challenge from local sodas in those countries due to consumer boycotts targeting the brands as symbols of America, and by extension Israel, at a time of war in Gaza.
In Egypt, sales of Coke have cratered this year, while local brand V7 exported three times as many bottles of its own cola in the Middle East and the wider region than last year. In Bangladesh, Coke launched an advertising campaign against the boycott. But after a public outcry over perceived insensitivity, Coke pulled the ad in June and apologized.
And across the Middle East, Pepsi’s rapid growth evaporated after the Israel-Hamas war started in October.
Pakistani corporate executive Sunbal Hassan kept Coke and Pepsi off her wedding menu in Karachi in …