It’s a bit flat

An interesting follow-up to the story of Qibla Cola’s failure can be found here in today’s Guardian “g2” supplement (third story down), which gives another angle on why the product failed, rather than the one about “Muslims are useless and don’t support each other”:

At Bangla City, there is an untouched-looking pile of Qibla Cola right by the door, splashed by customers’ wet footsteps and reduced in price by a third. “I’ve got quite a bit left,” says Ahmed, “but they’ve got good dates on them.” He looks at one of the fat two-litre bottles. “February 2006.” Why does he think Qibla failed, when a lot of Muslims drink Coca-Cola? He looks out of the doorway at the drizzle and begins an explanation about religion, politics and consumerism, but then he grinds to a halt. “Qibla Cola,” he says, “is a bit flat”.

Puts me in mind of the time I picked up some Qibla Cola in an Islamic book and merchandise shop in east London, and opened them and it didn’t really taste that good. It was flat, and too sweet, and didn’t make you feel too good after drinking it. I had drunk the stuff out of cans I got from the Golborne Road Indian take-away, and I presumed that this stuff was dodgy, perhaps counterfeit – and the poorly-produced and misspelt packaging led me towards this conclusion. But perhaps this was the real deal, and their product had just deteriorated or perhaps tasted different out of a can.