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Uefa warns teams could be fined if they move drinks at news conferences
- aliasEli 5y agoLong, long time ago, sports was about the game. Now it appears to be all about sponsors.
- forgotmysn 5y agoTV changed everything. There were some clubs in England that protested TV broadcasts of games entirely because they were afraid it would devalue the game-day and club experience. Perhaps they were right.
- MisterBastahrd 5y agoLong, long time ago, athletes played for a season and then earned a living at their actual careers. It is all about sponsors if athletes want to make the money they've grown accustomed to.
- alexfrydl 5y agoYou're acting like the athletes got together and demanded enormous contracts so UEFA was begrudgingly forced to make deals with Coca-Cola to appease their entitlement.
- MisterBastahrd 5y agoIncorrect. I'm acting like the athletes know what the UEFA is about when they sign contracts to UEFA clubs, and thus pretending that this is some kind of free speech issue is ridiculous. The players sign plenty enough endorsement contracts on their own to know how this works.
- dmitrygr 5y agoIt is startling to have UEFA admit this in the open. I would have expected this to be whispered into the appropriate ears, not announced aloud like this. Admitting how controlled you are by your sponsors is not a good look for anybody, no?
- MisterBastahrd 5y agoDid the jerseys and stadiums covered by advertisements and logos not clue people in?
- adamcstephens 5y agoI feel like this being in the open is par for course nowadays. Sponsors, and indirectly through the broadcasters, hold enormous power over modern sports. Coca-Cola is spending some millions of dollars on this campaign, and it’s a bad look when the players actively diminish their product. Ronaldo is one of the most popular players in the world, if not the most, and kids look up to him. They can’t have this, and I’m sure execs were immediately calling their buddies at UEFA. I side with Ronaldo, drink more water and not the sugary stuff.
- squiggleblaz 5y ago> Admitting how controlled you are by your sponsors is not a good look for anybody, no? I think it's especially good for the public to know that the choice of beverage on the table reflects advertising payments, not player desire.
- ska 5y agoIs this really control by the sponsors ? Or did they sell this to the sponsors without consulting players?
- bellyfullofbac 5y ago> Admitting how controlled you are by your sponsors is not a good look for anybody, no? You should read about how the IOC is pushing for the Olympics to go on, because, well, the sponsors want to see return on investment. They even said they'll source doctors from all over the world to make sure the games are safe. Doctors who are probably more useful helping in places where the spread of Covid hasn't been caused by some money hungry corporations.
- falcolas 5y agoAnd here I thought we’d have a good chuckle and move along. More the fool, me.
- dragosmocrii 5y ago$4 billions in lost market capitalization for KO, pretty sure there were some calls made in the following days after the incident
- cratermoon 5y agoWho is KO? #outoftheloop Thanks to everyone who pointed out it's the stock ticker for the Coca-Cola company.
- mynameisvlad 5y agoCoca Cola. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/KO/ https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/KO/
- bellyfullofbac 5y agoStock symbol for the Coca Cola company.. I looked it up to confirm, but from the context of the article it should've been clear.
- cratermoon 5y agoIt should have been, but in my mind the disconnect between "Coca-Cola" or "Coke" and "KO" was to big to bridge. I should have just looked it up. Thank you.
- dmoy 5y agoKO is the stock ticker of coca cola on the NYSE
- Rebelgecko 5y agoHas anyone looked at the after hours trades to see when the stock dipped? I'd imagine that the $2b dividend they paid out the previous trading day had way more impact on their market cap than the bottle moving incident
- tester756 5y ago>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 how does that "development" even look in reality?
- slipframe 5y ago> "partnerships are integral to [...] ensuring the development of football across Europe [...] for youth" This part is laughable horse shit. You don't need corporate sponsors to give some kids a $10 ball. Nor do you need corporate sponsors even for a field for them to run around in; school taxes or local funding for public parks have that covered. No corporate partnerships were ever involved when I played this game as a kid.
- 988747 5y agoAnd somehow you did not become a world-class football player... UEFA does sponsor a lot of initiatives that aim not only to encourage kids to play football but also train them properly, helping them reach their full potential. Just ensuring that they a. have proper equipment, b. are trained by professional coaches, c. participate in various local and international tournaments, those things make a world of difference.
- slipframe 5y ago> And somehow you did not become a world-class football player... And that didn't make it any less fun. Furthermore, there is no shortage of professional highly competent football players who grew up in a poor country playing football in a field without a dollar in sight. Corporate sponsorships simply are not necessary for youth athletics. Never have been, and never will be.
- MisterBastahrd 5y agoNobody is watching you play soccer, either, not even for free. Pro soccer players have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in them before they're even old enough to drink.
- tyingq 5y agoOof. There's also a wall covered in 60+ sponsor logos behind Ronaldo.
- pySSK 5y agoThis feels different though. The images are clearly advertisement. However, the bottles are placed in a manner that implies those are his drinks. He is either repulsed by the coloured sugar-water he's upset that they're not paying him directly.
- tyingq 5y agoYes, I'm not saying they are the same. I'm saying it's sad that we need product placements when there's already logos everywhere.
- FridayoLeary 5y agoI think that's the most useful comment I've read here so far. We need to distinguish between blatant advertising and much more subtle product placements. It seems a lot of comments here are failing to do so.
- underseacables 5y agoI bet Ronaldo will move the drinks again, and I think he should. Without the players there is no game.
- stanislavb 5y agoOh, I so much hope you are right and he does that. It'd be so fun. In the end of the day, even if they fine him, that will increase his personal brand value :D
- rusk 5y agoand will hit theirs
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- bellyfullofbac 5y agoWell he's got the clout that UEFA don't dare be tough with him, if he gets mad the backlash against UEFA and Coca-Cola will be even greater, and the PR consultants working for them know this...
- mdoms 5y agoWithout sponsors there are no players.
- hkt 5y agoActually, fans and players can get along without sponsors. There is also a long list of prospective sponsors who don't peddle fizzy drinks that the talent (or fans) might object to.
- Scoundreller 5y ago> There is also a long list of prospective sponsors who don't peddle fizzy drinks that the talent (or fans) might object to. Might be hard to find, there’s not that many global brands out there where you can advertise once and hit the world. Unhealthy food and beverage make up a lot of the sector. Even Google or Apple don’t hit the China market well. Even multinational car manufacturers sub-brand way too much.
- groby_b 5y agoIt'd be lovely to see that Naomi Osaka wasn't a one-off, and that athletes are taking back control. Hoping the drinks get moved again, and then Uefa can find out how well soccer works without the players if they want.
- heyheyhey 5y ago> then Uefa can find out how well soccer works without the players if they want. Then the players can find out that they're making less money due to less sponsorships.
- gtsop 5y agoI make way less money than these athletes and I get by great. I am sure they will survive a pay cut if they are willing to get a message across
- Mirioron 5y agoSure, but considering that said player doesn't mind endorsing MLM products (and being paid a lot of money for them) I do think it's about the money.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- hkt 5y agoWe're talking about people whose sporting prowess means they're wealthier than maybe even luckiest early startup employees. They can afford to leave a few bucks on the table to stop hawking cokes.
- MisterBastahrd 5y agoShe's taken back so much control that she isn't even playing tennis right now.
- groby_b 5y ago
- void_mint 5y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxRstOVEiZ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxRstOVEiZ0 This concept is just so hilarious.
- pokoleo 5y agoI'm just here so I won't get fined. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1kvwXsZtU8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1kvwXsZtU8
- tzs 5y agoHe should have tossed an "I am Groot" in there.
- murat131 5y agoIf you can't move the bottles just move your chair and problem solved.
- colechristensen 5y agoMust everything in the world be done to benefit advertising? It's like the dystopic version of a dystopia, not even some evil entity or philosophy shaping the world, it's just people promoting shit for pennies. The real evil is extraordinarily mundane. How do you change it? Heavy taxes on ad revenue that favor other forms of funding?
- sneak 5y agoParticipation in sponsorship is voluntary. You change it by not buying Coca-Cola, and educating people about the terrible practices of these companies, eg by sharing this link.
- colechristensen 5y agoNo, I can't. "I'll only buy your products if you don't advertise" would be an incredibly difficult proposition. This isn't about one incident with one company, but a general problem with damn near everything.
- sneak 5y agoIt's okay to like coke more than you hate advertising. You'll be in good company with millions of others.
- oarsinsync 5y agoI’m sure I read somewhere that coca colas goal for customer retention through advertising was someone who drank (on average) one can per month. On the one hand, that’s shockingly low. On the other hand, that’s potentially billions of cans per month.
- cratermoon 5y agoThe banality of evil, as Hannah Arendt discovered.
- slg 5y ago
- worik 5y agoWow. What a crock professional sport has become. Very sad
- FridayoLeary 5y agoSo stocks in coke dropped after Ronaldo moved his drink. I don't understand why anyone would even blink, but i imagine coke execs are incandescent. A bit off topic, but i do have a gripe against coke. It seems that since the UK introduced that silly sugar tax, they have started adding more sweeteners and reducing sugar, even in real coke. I don't remember it tasting so uninspiring a few years ago. I think they've spoiled the recipe, maybe Ronaldo also thinks so.
- kyleblarson 5y agoJune 14 was KO’s ex dividend date and shares typically drop at the open by the amount of the dividend.
- daveoc64 5y agoI don't think the "sugar tax" has had an impact on the flavour of Coca Cola. Its current formula in the UK contains too much sugar to apply for any sort of exemption or reduction in the soft drinks sugar levy. The amount of sugar in Coca Cola sold in the US is similar to the UK (about 10.6g per 100ml).
- redblacktree 5y agoI wonder if you're also now getting High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) instead of cane sugar. Here in the states, it's well-known that "Mexican Coke" (made with actual sugar) tastes better than regular coke. (made with HFCS) Check the label and report back?
- MisterBastahrd 5y agoIt's well known that it tastes different than regular coke. Better is a matter of choice, and most of the "better" in this case is due to novelty.
- guardiangod 5y ago>Teams at Euro 2020 could face fines if their players move drinks provided by sponsors at news conferences, as Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Pogba have done in recent days. Luckily in the next journalist session Ronaldo has a poster promoting UNICEF charity work that he places in front of the coke bottles, for promoting "development of youth and women."
- epage 5y ago> The next day, France midfielder Pogba, a practising Muslim, discreetly removed a bottle of Heineken beer. > Uefa's Euro 2020 tournament director Martin Kallen said players were contractually obliged "through their federation of the tournament regulations to follow". > However, he said he understood the actions of players who, like Pogba, did such things for religious reasons. Understood the motivation, but it doesn't say if they will support players when a sponsored placement implies an endorsement that runs counter to a players beliefs.
- sofixa 5y ago> Understood the motivation, but it doesn't say if they will support players when a sponsored placement implies an endorsement that runs counter to a players beliefs Considering religion is a type of belief, it's hard to draw a realistic line there. Healthy living is too much, but a book you religiously believe in told you no X so that's acceptable? What if CR7 believed religiously in his health ( sure seems he does)? And it's funny they're making a point to make an exception for Pogba and religion when the beer he moved was non-alcoholic, so his religion had nothing to do with it.
- antaviana 5y agoThere is no such thing as bad publicity...
- DoreenMichele 5y agoThis is a myth. Though I get that sometimes seeming bad publicity fattens your bottom line and all that, there are things that can, in fact, harm you tremendously if it gets out there.
- FridayoLeary 5y agoSee: New Coke
- slg 5y agoThese spats are nothing new. Michael Jordan was having similar disagreements over sponsors 30 years ago[1]. [1] - https://web.archive.org/web/20200420224205/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1992-08-09-1992222100-story.html https://web.archive.org/web/20200420224205/https://www.balti...
- eCa 5y agoAccording to[1] Ronaldo has a personal sponsorship deal with Herbalife going on since 2013 for a CR7-branded sports drink. Would be interesting to hear if that affected his Cola move. [1] https://sportskhabri.com/player-profile-cristiano-ronaldo/ https://sportskhabri.com/player-profile-cristiano-ronaldo/ (and other sources)
- xdennis 5y agoAfter the Cola move he endorsed water.
- kwdc 5y agoIf just moving the product has this much effect it shows just how powerful brand perception is and how nuanced it can be. If you're a student of media / propaganda this is a textbook basic example of product placement and its importance. It may seem obvious but the implications are immense. This kind of insight underpins just about every advertising campaign in some way. This is not a trivial example at all. This is how lucative having those bottles positioned just so is to these companies. It also says a lot about how persuasive this kind of placement really is.
- Mirioron 5y agoCoca-Cola probably paid a lot of money to have their two drinks shown in the interviews. Changing that is probably some kind of breach of contract by the organizers of the event.
- kwdc 5y agoThis is precisely my point. They would have definitely paid money for every aspect. Along with the insistence that it be their product in front of the players. Logo visible. On camera. In frame.
- rangoon626 5y agoI, for one, thoroughly enjoyed seeing him do that.
- peapicker 5y agoSeems Coca Cola Co should have placed a Smartwater instead to stay in brand and maybe even have him want to drink it.
- oliwarner 5y ago"Fans" boo players taking the knee before a match, crying that we should only care about the game... But we're supposed to be fine with gambling and alcohol companies plastering the kit, pitch and interviews with their messages? Football should be funded by the people who watch it. Fin.
- fileeditview 5y agoWhile I agree that would mean a steep decline in salaries and other funds. Maybe that would be a good thing for the sport though?
- smegcicle 5y agoare they allowed to drink them? are they allowed to shake them up and put them back?
- zibzab 5y agoSo what authority does FIFA really have here? Did the players agree to advertise for these companies att the conferences? What if they spend half the conferences talking about benefits of drinking water and dangerous of sugar?