It was a brief movement: Cristiano Ronaldo, the star of the Portuguese soccer team that disputes Euro 2020, withdrew two bottles of Coca-Cola from the table where he was about to give a press conference.
“Water,” he said, shaking the bottle in his hand. “No Coca-Cola.”
The gesture, with which the soccer star gave the impression of inviting to leave the soft drinks, occurred this Monday, during the conference that served as a preview of the match between Portugal and Hungary in Budapest in group F that the national team won on Tuesday Lusitana with two goals from the attacker.
And it coincided with a drop in the price of Coca-Cola shares, which went from $ 56.10 to $ 55.22 immediately after the media reportedton the comment of the forward of Juventus of Italy.
It was a 1.6% drop, which meant that the beverage giant’s market value fell from $ 242 billion to $ 238 billion.
That is, almost US $ 4 billion less.
Analysts pointed out that the stock slump was highly likely it was due to the action of the Portuguese striker, but that it is not something that will impact the company in the long term.
“It is plausible to think that the movement of Coca-Cola shares may have been influenced in some way by the market’s reaction to Ronaldo’s snub of the bottle during the press conference,” the expert on the Bloomberg Intelligence Beverage Market, Kenneth shea.
Shea noted that these stock price movements in the short term do not necessarily change the value of the company in the long term.
“Clearly, celebrity endorsement is important to many consumers, at least in the immediate term. But companies like Coca-Cola are designed for the long term and have diversified their product portfolio to include beverages that contain no sugar and no calories, as well as bottled waters, “he explained
Diego Mora, senior analyst at the XTB consultancy, argues that “you can never know exactly why millions of people decide to sell a share.”
However, considering the media impact that Ronaldo has and his ability to influence people, “it is highly probable that the fall of Coca-Cola was due to his comments,” he said in a dialogue with BBC Mundo.
Image source, Alex pantling
Caption,
This Tuesday Cristiano Ronaldo became the greatest historical scorer of the Eurocup.
But the matter did not end there.
Coca-Cola is one of the official sponsors of the tournament and the gesture forced the organizers to explain in the media that “everyone has the right to their drink preferences, that depends on the tastes and needs“.
However, several social media users recalled an advertisement that the Portuguese starred in for Coca-Cola in Japan on the occasion of the 2006 World Cup.
The Union of European Football Federations (UEFA) also pointed out that during press conferences players and coaches in addition to Coca-Cola are also offered bottled water by the same company.
Image source, SOPA Images
Caption,
Coca-Cola is one of the main sponsors of the Eurocup.
But Ronaldo’s gesture, which went around the world and reached his almost 300 million Instagram followers, among others, was also repeated by other stars competing for the Eurocup.
Thus, this Tuesday the French midfielder Paul Pogba, In the middle of the press conference after the 1-0 victory over Germany, he removed a bottle of Heineken non-alcoholic beer, another of the tournament’s sponsoring brands, from sight.
Pogba is Muslim and does not drink alcoholic beverages.
Cristiano Records
In addition to the Coca-Cola bottles, Cristiano Ronaldo was once again in the news for his goals.
Just by entering the field of the Ferenc Puskas stadium in Budapest, he became the only player to play five European Cups.
However, their historic feat began in minute 87, when he converted a penalty that meant his team’s second goal against the Hungarians.
And he repeated it in the 93rd minute, when he scored the third goal. With that he reached 11 annotations, surpassed Michel Platini’s record by two and became the highest historical scorer of this continental tournament.
It also expanded its European dominance: Cristiano Ronaldo is also the historic scorer of the Champions League, with 134 goals, of the Portuguese team (with 106) and of Real Madrid, with 311 goals of his own.
He is also just four goals behind Ali Daei, the legendary Iranian striker, to surpass him as the player with the most goals ever scored for a country’s national team.
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