UAE-based Mecca Cola, touted by its makers as an Islamic alternative to Western brand soft drinks, has seen sales triple since anger erupted in Muslim countries over cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad, reported Reuters. Chairman Taoufik Mathlouthi told Reuters at a food industry exhibition that he planned to list Mecca Cola on the Dubai stock market, adding the process could take more than a year. "Growth came with these Danish caricatures. It's crazy but our sales multiplied by three ... We cannot supply all the demand we have right now," Mathlouthi said. Protests have broken out in several Muslim countries, where angry protesters torched Danish and other Western embassies in reaction to the cartoons published by a Danish newspaper. One of them portrays Islam's prophet with a turban shaped as a bomb. Islam considers caricatures of the prophet blasphemous. Muslim consumers in Europe were the target for Mecca Cola when it was launched in October 2002, but demand has been surging from Muslim countries after the cartoons row, he added.
