Snapchat, the instant messaging application, is facing a major public relations battle after Cristiano Ronaldo rejected the application in front of a fan. The video of the incident has gone viral on social media, prompting damage control for the messaging application.
In the video, Cristiano Ronaldo was approached by a fan for a picture. He stopped for the fan before rejecting the request after seeing that the fan was using Snapchat to click the selfie. Ronaldo was heard saying “No, no, this is Snapchat.”
The video has gone viral on social media after being shared by many fan accounts of the Portuguese superstar. The reason is still unknown why Ronaldo rejected Snapchat for selfies. Is it some contractual obligation to Instagram, a rival of Snapchat? Or Is it the filters on the application are a go for Ronaldo? Either way, this has been a major public relations emergency for the application.
Cristiano:
“No no this is Snapchat.😂😂”pic.twitter.com/d9Berdm2Rn
— CristianoXtra (@CristianoXtra_) September 28, 2023
The fan base of the Al-Nassr superstar has now started deleting the social media application meanwhile, others who weren’t already a fan of the application have raised their voice in support of this movement. The snowball effect of this negative public image of the application can harm the valuation of the application in the short term and might lead to bigger problems in the long run.
The team behind Snapchat will be weary from the previous example of Coca-Cola which faced a similar backlash after a public rejection from Cristiano Ronaldo. However, in this case, the cause of rejection is still unknown among the fans and experts.
Coca-Cola collapsed after Cristiano Ronaldo rejected them
Back in 2021, during a UEFA Euro 2020 news conference, Ronaldo created a similar storm for the beverage giant, Coca-Cola. The Portuguese captain sat down for the conference ahead of Portugal’s first game against Hungary, however, he was visibly uncomfortable seeing two bottles of the soft drink in front of him.
Being a sponsor of the event, Coca-Cola was placed in front of Ronaldo during the conference. The Portuguese forward, known for his health-conscious lifestyle, moved the bottle out of the camera frame and replaced it with a water bottle. He even held the bottle up and said in Portuguese, “Water.”
Throwback to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Coca cola incident in EURO 2020 😂😂😭
No one in the world of sports can ever have his influence! 🐐 pic.twitter.com/E3fh66EkdV
— 𝐂𝐑𝟕 𝐇𝐔𝐁 (@CR7_Hub) July 18, 2023
The incident caught the major limelight during the tournament, and the impact of the rejection was evident in the stock market. The share price of the company dropped by $1.6% to $55.22 meanwhile, the valuation of the company saw a dip of around $4 Billion from $242 to $238 Billion.
The incident saw massive support online, with fans claiming to boycott the soft drinks going forward and replacing it with water, just like Cristiano Ronaldo. The impact was so big that the company had to address it with a statement that stated that Everyone is entitled to their drink preferences with different “tastes and needs.”
The company has slowly climbed back to a $56 share price at the time of this report, but had to battle against a major public relations storm at the time of the incident. Snapchat would be hoping that they don’t need to battle a similar impact after the latest rejection from the Portuguese superstar.