With five Ballon d'Or titles and numerous other accolades, both at personal and team level, Cristiano Ronaldo is widely regarded as among the best players of not just his generation, but to ever play the beautiful game.
So, it's not surprising that the 36-year-old has amassed a huge fanbase worldwide, with his Instagram account boasting over 300 million followers. The multiple Champions League winner also has numerous sponsorship deals with a plethora of organizations, as companies know that having Ronaldo on their platform will certainly generate buzz and thus increased revenue. One recent example is wellness brand Therabody, which has signed him as a brand ambassador to promote their Theragun product.
Given his huge marketing power and mass following, it's no surprise that a simple word or action from CR7 will cause a ripple effect.
On Monday, Ronaldo sat down with reporters for a pre-match press conference prior to Portugal's match against Hungary. It's well known that he's a fitness buff and leads a very healthy lifestyle - which has contributed to his ongoing success over the course of his career.
Spotting two bottles of Coca-Cola, CR7 opted to move them out of the way - as clearly soda is not a drink he partakes in - before telling attendees and viewers to drink water instead.
Amazingly, immediately after Ronaldo's action, Coca-Cola saw their share price drop from $56.10 to $55.22, or a 1.6 per cent drop.
But that wasn't all. The soft drink conglomerate saw their market value drop from $242 billion to $238 billion.
Although given the size of Coca-Cola, $4 billion may not seem like a lot, it's still notable because it shows the impact a player of Ronaldo's caliber can have on markets with a simple action.
Coca-Cola has been an official corporate partner with UEFA since 1988. In response to Ronaldo's "snub" and the drop in market value, the company noted that basically everyone is free to drink what suits them best, whether it be water or soda.
