The Strauss Company, which owns the Elite brand coffee, announced on Monday that it will release a new line of coffee, replacing the packaging of its popular Turkish coffee due to public disapproval of Turkeyβs support for Hamas. The new packaging will feature patriotic slogans.
βDemand for coffee has been high since the start of the war,β Ynet news quoted Strauss Israel Coffee CEO Avi Laufer as saying. He emphasized that despite its moniker, the coffee is consumed around the world and is not produced in Turkey
βThere were posts that asked us to change the name to βIsraeli coffeeβ because of the calls to boycott products from Turkey. We wanted to clarify that thereβs no connection between [our] Turkish coffee and Turkey. The coffee beans come from coffee-producing nations like Brazil, Vietnam and Ethiopia. Thereβs no coffee coming from Turkey,β Laufer was quoted as saying. βSo why the name? Itβs the signature fine grind thatβs used in Turkey and Greece.β
βTurkish Coffee is part of many very Israeli moments. It is much more than just a cup of coffee; it is our unity and our love for the land,β said Strauss Coffee Israel Vice President of Marketing Ofri Shabo.
βTo strengthen our soldiers, we decided to update the packaging during the war and to put out a line of mottos with messages of unity, hope, and belief in the justness of our path,β Shabo added.
The slogans include Hebrew-language phrases such as: βAm Israel Chaiβ (the People of Israel Live), βVictory Generationβ, βWe Have No Other Homeland,β and βStrong Together.β
ΧΧ©Χ’Χ ΧΧΧΧ
— ΧΧ ΧΧ ΧΧΧ¦ΧΧ¨Χ (@YanivZaltzberg) December 25, 2023
ΧΧ’Χ§ΧΧΧͺ ΧΧΧΧ₯: Χ©Χ ΧΧΧΧͺΧ "Χ§Χ€Χ ΧΧΧ¨Χ§Χ" ΧΧ€Χ Χ"Χ’Χ ΧΧ©Χ¨ΧΧ ΧΧ" Χ"ΧΧΧ§ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧ" pic.twitter.com/FHBCEcMKba
Strauss Group said it βdecided to enlist the coffee that is so loved by [Israeli] soldiersβ to launch the new packaging.
βThis coffee is in almost every home [and] with our soldiers in Gaza, who send us photos of them drinking coffee. We said weβll use phrases to replace the name and show how Israeli the product is,β Laufer was quoted as saying.
Israel is not the only country with this wartime sensitivity. In 2003, a trend developed in the US, renaming french fries to Freedom Fries. This was a response to France objecting to the US-led invasion of Iraq after the 9-11 terrorist attacks.