Coca-Cola’s market value dropped an astonishing $4 billion, from $242 billion to $238 billion, hours after footballer Cristiano Ronaldo moved two Coca-Cola bottles for a bottle of water in a pre-match conference. The stock price of the beverage brand dropped from $56.10 to $55.22, declining 1.6%.
On Monday, at a Euro 2020 press conference, the Portugal captain removed two bottles of Coca-Cola kept in front of him encouraging people to drink water instead. As he sat down to speak to the media before Tuesday’s Group F opener against Hungary, the 36-year-old moved the cola bottles aside.
The Juventus forward followed it by holding a bottle of water before shouting: “Agua!, Agua!” (water) in Portuguese, indicating what appeared to be him encouraging people to drink water instead of aerated drinks. The video of the incident went viral on social media and was widely shared.
Coca-Cola is one of the official sponsors of Euro 2020, hence bottles were placed in front of the cameras in the press conferences for marketing. The company replied with a statement on Tuesday that said: “everyone is entitled to their drink preferences with different tastes and needs”.
France midfielder Paul Pogba according to reports removed a bottle of Heineken beer that had been placed in front of him at a Euro 2020 news conference on Tuesday. This echoed a similar incident involving Portugal captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, when he moved aside Coca-Cola bottles in a similar set-up.
Pogba removed the bottle when he sat down to speak to the media after he was named ‘Man of the Match’ in France’s 1-0 Group F win over Germany. In Tuesday’s game against Hungary, Ronaldo guided his team to victory by scoring twice in Portugal’s 3-0 victory, thereby becoming the record goalscorer at the European Championships with 11 goals.
