Coffees in several Arab Gulf states started selling coffee and other cold drinks in baby bottles, starting a new trend that generated excitement, confusion and negative reaction
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Coffees in several Arab Gulf states started selling coffee and other iced drinks in bottles this month, starting a new trend that has generated enthusiasm, confusion – and adverse reactions.
Fashion started at Einstein Cafe, a sophisticated dessert chain with branches across the region, from Dubai to Kuwait and Bahrain. Instead of regular paper cups, the cafe, inspired by photos of trendy-looking baby bottles shared on social media, decided to pour its soft drinks with milk in plastic bottles.
Although the franchise was not a newcomer to children’s-themed products – a milkshake with cerelac, the baby rice cereal, it has been a longstanding selling success – the unprecedented fervor for baby bottles was a shock. All the stress and anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic seems to have stimulated some to find a way out of the strange new craze.
“Everyone wanted to buy, people called all day, saying that they were going with their friends, that they were coming with their father and mother,” said Younes Molla, CEO of the Einstein franchise in the United Arab Emirates, to The Associated Press this week. “After so many months with the pandemic, with all the difficulties, people took pictures, had fun, remembered their childhood.”
Lines jammed Einstein stores in the Gulf. People of all ages ran to the sidewalks, waiting for the chance to drink coffee and juice from a plastic bottle. Some customers even brought their own bottles to other cafes, begging perplexed baristas to fill them.
Photos of baby bottles filled with colorful drink kaleidoscopes attracted thousands of likes on Instagram and bounced off the popular social media app TikTok. A cure for the world’s uncertainties? A response to some primordial instinct? Anyway, a trend was born.
Soon, however, online haters realized – drinkers and bottle providers faced a barrage of unpleasant comments.
“People were so angry, they said horrible things, that we were an ‘a and b’ for Islam and Muslim culture,” said Molla, using the Arabic term for shame or dishonor.
Last week, anger reached the highest echelons of the government. Dubai officials cracked down. Inspection teams broke into cafes where the trend had taken off and handed out fines.
“This indiscriminate use of baby bottles is not only against local culture and traditions”, says the government statement, “but the incorrect handling of the bottle during filling can also contribute to the spread of COVID-19”, an apparent reference to who bring their used bottles to other cafes.
The authorities, the statement added, were “made aware of the negative practice and its risks by social media users”.
The reaction also came from Kuwait, where the government temporarily closed the Einstein Cafe, and Bahrain, where the Ministry of Commerce sent policemen armed with live cameras to cafes and alerted all restaurants that serving drinks from bottles “violates customs and Bahrain’s traditions. “
Oman asked citizens to report bottle-sightings to the Consumer Protection Authority hotline. Saudi Twitter users and media personalities condemned the trend in the harshest terms, with the popular news site Mujaz al-Akhbar lamenting that “daughters of the kingdom have suffered from the loss of modesty and religion”.
It is not the first time that the guardians of local customs in the Arab countries of the Gulf have focused their anger on the phenomena of social networks. Vague laws across the region give authorities ample power to eradicate public immorality and indecency. Emirati officials last spring, for example, arrested an expatriate young man for posting a video on TikTok in which he sneezed on a note, accusing him of “damaging” the reputation of the UAE and its institutions.