- In a recent press conference, the world-renowned footballer Cristiano Ronaldo removed the Coke bottle and replaced it with a water can at one level much to the befuddlement of the onlookers, including the ever-present social media personnel keen to latch onto sensational information. No wonder, this act of the athlete has already created yet another storm in a social media milieu that is hogging the limelight for all its worth. As if on cue, the $4 billion drops in market capitalization ensued for the Coke brand leading to for and against arguments on the matter of conjecture associated with the act of shifting a bottle. Did the superstar athlete enact the shifting wittingly or unwittingly is best left to the imagination of experts and wannabes to decide?
PC: James Carter
- An interesting part of the whole issue is whether such an action should not be construed as a one-off, but a part of a larger shift that is increasingly visible in the areas of health, celebrity endorsements, and the whole question of product placement and event sponsorships, in that order. It also gives credence to the increasingly health-conscious elite athletes and sportspersons representing different disciplines shunning the product generally considered as not healthy. As the focus shifted to maintaining a healthy lifestyle where greater emphasis is laid on dietary, nutritional, and organically developed processes to shape an athlete’s international career, the earlier cavalier approach of not laying enough importance on fitness and endurance is passe.
- Now, the moot point to ponder over here is whether Ronaldo’s action is a mere publicity stunt prompting him to remove a bottle of Coke at a press conference, or can it be interpreted as an act of conscience owned up by a health-minded supreme athlete? Come to think of it, the marquee sporting events are powered by the huge amount of money pumped in by big brands in the form of sponsorships and endorsements. Brand endorsement of such products gets a huge fillip when an international athlete or a sportsman or a celebrity promotes by inking multimillion-dollar contracts. Thus, unheard-of endorsement fees are dished out to some of the biggest names from the sporting arena which influences potential buyers to opt for those products.
PC: Forrest
- Contracts running into thousands of crores for the sporting association, boards, federations, and bodies are quite significant. And the stake goes up while organizing multilateral sporting events attracting huge footfalls as well as eyeballs. In the same vein, hundreds of crores worth of endorsements fees are awarded to deserving sportsmen for endorsing products to attract patrons which they invariably succeed in. Of late, several superstar sports personalities are attempting to project themselves in an entirely different avatar by exercising extreme caution whilst endorsing such products which are usually seen as unhealthy.
- Call it evolution or increased awareness, the fitness levels required to compete at the highest levels demand tremendous sacrifices and delayed gratifications from elite athletes. They are setting unperceived standards vis-à-vis fitness and endurance leading to longevity to remain competitive for a sustained period. As these celebrity athletes command a huge fan following, it is but natural for them to project themselves appropriately and acceptably subscribing to the generally held belief of a healthy and fit persona. Thus, what Ronaldo did with that one act might reflect on the way celebrity personalities wish to move ahead vis-à-vis big brands.
