Cristiano Ronaldo-Coca-Cola Fiasco
| Case Code: BECG174 Case Length: 7 Pages Period: 2021 Pub Date: 2022 Teaching Note: Available |
Price: Rs.300 Organization: The Coca-Cola Company Industry: Food & Beverage Countries: United States Themes: Business Ethics, Marketing Ethics,Marketing Realities, |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
Excerpts
About Ronaldo
Ronaldo, one of the leading soccer players in the world, was born on February 5, 1985, in Portugal, a Southern European country. Ronaldo was considered among the best players in the world and was widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Till September 2021, he had won five Balloons and four European Golden Shoes and scored a total of seven goals in the World Cup and 14 goals in the European Championships. He had a contract for four years from 2019 to 2022 with Juventus, one of the oldest football clubs in Italy, which was worth US$64 million a year..
About the Incident
On June 14, 2021, Ronaldo moved two Coca-Cola bottles out of the frame at a Euro 2020 press conference and picked up a bottle of water, and smilingly said ‘Agua’. Ronaldo’s gesture caused a furor and drew the attention of fans, the media, and others, who saw it as a move by the star footballer to promote water over Coca-Cola (Refer to Exhibit II for incident video). This incident resulted in a fall in Coca-Cola’s share price..
Views of Company and Organizer on the Incident
On the Ronaldo incident, a Coca-Cola 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 [as everyone has different] tastes and needs” ..
Experts’ Opinion
Tim Crow (Crow), a sports marketing expert, was of the view there was no correlation between what had happened at the press conference and the stock price of Coca-Cola. He pointed out that the price of the stock was showing a declining trend even before this event..
Looking Forward
Experts opined that in today’s highly competitive environment, organizations needed to follow marketing ethics, and also be socially responsible. This would certainly lead to their success. Many celebrities were slowly detaching themselves from unhealthy brands and were unwilling to promote brands which they did not want to use..
Exhibits
Exhibit I: Selected Financials of Coca-Cola
Exhibit II: Cristiano Ronaldo’s Incident Video
Exhibit III: Coca-Cola Stock Price Fall
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