BUDAPEST: Star soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo Monday caused a stir when he replaced two bottles of the carbonated soft drink from the unlabeled water and the move lead to a $4 billion devaluations in the share price of the drinks company.
The incident occurred on June 15, ahead of Portugal vs Hungary match, when the Portuguese footballer accompanied coach Fernando Santos to the pre-match presser where the ‘keep-fit-fanatic’ removed the two bottles of the sugary drink, which were placed for advertisement, that led to a whopping $4 billion fall in the share price of the food giant. He then holds up an unlabeled bottle of water, and said Agua! [Means water].
Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't seem to like Coca-Cola. #Euro2020 pic.twitter.com/a2wAKd6wz6
— SportsRooter.com ⚽️ (@SportsRooter) June 14, 2021
Soon after the move, the share price of Coca-Cola took a dip, falling from $56.1 to $55.22 – a 1.6 percent drop in total. The market valuation of the brand dropped from $242 billion to $238 billion making a huge $4 billion loss. Coca-Cola is one of six main sponsors, alongside the likes of TikTok and Heineken.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola also breaks silence amid the entire whole episode stating ‘everyone is entitled to their drink preferences as people have different tastes and needs.’
A spokesperson of the Euro 2020 tournament said ‘Players are offered water, alongside Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, on arrival at our press conferences.’
Later on Tuesday, the five-time Ballon d’Or winning soccer player added another feather to the cap as he became the all-time top scorer at the European Championships after two goals in the final minutes helped title holders Portugal beat Hungary 3-0 in their Group F opener.
The clip of snubbing a famous drink brand went viral in a short time on social media as the star player holds a broad social media reach with over 300 million Instagram followers.
Soon after the clip went viral, memes flood the microblogging platform as the social media users and football fans have now taken this as an opportunity to unleash their creativity to come up with amusing memes.
Elon – I can move the market with one tweet
Ronaldo- "Hold my bottle"🤣🤣#CocaCola #Ronaldo pic.twitter.com/vkVdMlVser— CA Nilisha Mantri (@ca_nilisha) June 16, 2021
Reel Real
Influencers. Influencer. pic.twitter.com/XCNFJkbWwh— Varsha saandilyae (@saandilyae) June 16, 2021
The Head of marketing of Coca-Cola when #Ronaldo moved the bottles placed in front of him during the press conference #CocaCola pic.twitter.com/kWouNUwnHg
— Gracie (@Crabcountess) June 16, 2021
After #CocaCola incident, other brands be like: pic.twitter.com/5JKvX9svov
— 🇮🇳Hemanth B.T♓️🟠💭 (@Hemanth1369) June 16, 2021
#CocaCola
Meanwhile PepsiCo
😅😅😅 pic.twitter.com/dXxR2pcCEz— Juniii… (@searchingsukoon) June 16, 2021
