Ronaldo’s action of removing Coke was noble but he could have simply avoided playing a league sponsored by the brand

Recently, Portuguese football sensation Cristiano Ronaldo took the world by storm. During a press conference before a Euro Cup match, he chucked off two Coca Cola bottles, asking those present to use water instead. Immediately, Cristiano’s popularity skyrocketed, while Coca Cola’s stocks nosedived. Allegedly, the soft drink giant lost shares worth 4 billion dollars overnight.

Recently, the Portuguese football star had come up for a press conference before the group opener against Hungary. The Portuguese star removed the soft drink bottles in a dramatic gesture, encouraging onlookers to drink water instead. He followed it by holding a bottle of water before shouting in Portuguese: ‘Agua!’ This simple action led to Coca-Cola losing shares worth $4 billion in the market.

According to a report by the Daily Star, soon after the stunt of Ronaldo, the brand witnessed a brutal drop of 1.6% in the stock market. In economic terms, Coca Cola had to bear a loss of $4 billion in total, receding down from $242 billion to $238 billion.

However, it didn’t take much time for some die-hard enthusiasts to call out Ronaldo’s bluff. The Internet, being the Internet decided to do a deep dive – and found an old advertisement where Ronaldo is endorsing Coca-Cola. The ad shows the Portuguese star superimposed on Coke cans branded in simplified Chinese and playing soccer with an ice cube in a fridge. It ends with an image of the Coca-Cola logo and the World Cup trophy.

As the advertisement surfaced, people on Twitter were amused by his U-turn from over 10 years ago, with many even calling out the Juventus star for ‘hypocrisy.’ Some users didn’t let take this hypocrisy lightly and brutally trolled Cristiano Ronaldo for being a barefaced hypocrite.

Hey google , what's does a HYPOCRITE mean ? #Ronaldo #CocaCola pic.twitter.com/KSNCDGAci5

— Space-Monkey🍥 (@iamyeshwa) June 16, 2021

Wonder how much @CocaCola paid for that to be placed there https://t.co/b7G6IAbZp4

— Stephen Scullion OLY (@scullion262) June 15, 2021

They used to be friends 🤣 #Ronaldo #CocaCola https://t.co/WsxvjfFftm

— Ron Festejo (@RonFestejo) June 15, 2021

Though UEFA didn’t attack him personally, they did issue a future warning for such theatrics. According to the tournament organisers, “UEFA has reminded participating teams that partnerships are integral to the delivery of the tournament and to ensuring the development of football across Europe, including for youth and women.”

If Ronaldo was really concerned about the side effects of consuming soft drinks, he shouldn’t have played the FIFA World Cup at all, which is ironically patronised by Coca Cola, one of the main patrons of the tournament. It is no doubt that he is a brilliant player, and he is also known for his social welfare programs. However, if he wanted to promote his social welfare schemes, this was certainly a horrible time.