Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was seen removing Coca-Cola bottles from the press conference table on Monday, 14th June. Alongside his national team head coach Fernando Santos, Ronaldo were attending a press conference ahead of their opening UEFA European Championship 2020 tie against Hungary.
As the Portuguese sat down for the press conference, he saw two bottles of Coca-Cola placed in front of him. Known for his incredible dedication to health and fitness, Ronaldo was quick to remove the soft drink bottles out of his sight and out of the camera’s view.
He then grabbed the bottle of water, placed it on the table, and showed it to the camera to urge people to drink water instead of the harmful soft drinks. The video clip went viral almost instantly, and it has had its share of adverse effects on the brand.
Ronaldo, being the global brand he is, can cause rapid movements in their share market with simple gestures, and something of that sort happened after the press conference. As more and more people saw and shared the clip, Coca-Cola’s market value took a significant hit.
Prior to this incident, the soft drink’s share value was USD 56.10, but it soon dropped to USD 55.22, decreasing by almost 2%. Their market value of USD 242 billion soon came crashing to USD 238 billion. Here as well, Coca-Cola saw a nearly 2% drop.
Coca-Cola have released a statement regarding this incident, where they have said that “everyone is entitled to their drink preferences.” They have also mentioned that different people have different “tastes and needs.”
While Coca-Cola’s brand value might have seen a massive dip, Ronaldo has done any harm to his brand value, as the Portuguese star was once again phenomenal for his nation. He scored twice in Portugal’s 3-0 win over Hungary at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.
