Euro 2020’s sponsor Coca Cola watched its market value go down by a whopping $4 billion shortly after a Portuguese skipper’s move during a press conference. Footballer and star players of the sport, Cristiano Ronaldo moved the beverage bottles aside, picked up a water bottle and muttered the brand’s name before commencing a press meet, leading to Coca Cola’s massive drop in figures.
A well-known health fanatic, Cristiano Ronaldo made headlines just before his team’s Group F game opposite Hungary in Budapest on Monday. The fitness enthusiast made his opinions about aerated drinks known as he held a bottle of water and pushed the carbonated beverage bottles away from him.
Cristiano Ronaldo qui déplace les bouteilles de Coca et qui dit “eau” en montrant aux journalistes pic.twitter.com/LaDNa95EcG
— Gio CR7 (@ArobaseGiovanny) June 14, 2021
The incident marked a major turning point in market value of Coca Cola that almost immediately after the conference witnessed a dip of 1.6 per cent.
The 30 seconds long video showing Ronaldo holding a water bottle saying “Agua”, translating to “water” from Portuguese, went viral within seconds with thousands of people sharing it. His gesture seemed to encourage people to drink water instead of carbonated drinks.
By the end of the press conference, the beverage company lost its share price by $0.88, from $56.10 to $55.22. It revived to an extent as the number has increased to $55.41 now. However, this difference caused a tremendous loss to Coca Cola as its market value got down to $238 billion from $242 billion- a $4 billion difference.
Being one of the official sponsors of the European Football League 2020, the Coca Cola bottles were placed on the conference tables for marketing purposes, which did not go well for the company.
With an Instagram follower count of almost 300 million, Cristiano Ronaldo is the second highest-paid footballer in the world after Lionel Messi.
The top footballer took his country to victory on Tuesday after scoring 2 goals against Hungary and winning the game with 3-0. With this, he set a record at Euro 2020 having 11 goals in his kitty.
Responding to a question about the incident, a Euros spokesperson said: “Players are offered water, alongside Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, on arrival at our press conferences.” Everyone “is entitled to their drink preferences”.
A similar incident took place on Wednesday after France star footballer Paul Pogba removed a beer bottle put in front of him during a press conference at the sports league. Pogba is a Muslim and doesn’t consume or encourage alcohol. The event took place after France’s win over Germany by 1-0.
