'Brand dissidence': Ronaldo eschewing Coca-Cola has a lesson for companies

In taking on Coke, Ronaldo may have unintentionally set a precedent for other players

Agua is the Portuguese word for water. Earlier this week, however, it morphed into a byword for eschewing Coca-Cola. Encoura­ging people to drink water, it is what Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo uttered after putting aside two bottles of the popular beverage before the start of his press conference at the Europ­ean Championship on Monday.

What was seemingly a flippant reflex has now acquired the face of a minor controversy. Several outlets reported that Ronaldo’s actions were responsible for a $4 billion tumble in Coca-Cola shares on the New York Stock Exchange. A few subsequent reports, however, suggested that the company’s