14 DAY TRIAL // The adverts Pepsi released on the day of Portugal's World Cup play-off with Sweden pictured Christiano Ronaldo as a voodoo doll tied to a train track or in other painful scenes infuriating Real Madrid's fans.
Christiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid's favorite football start, scored an amazing hat-trick at the game between Portugal and Sweden, winning Portugal's spot at the next phase in Brazil. Even if Swedish fans may have liked the idea of seeing Ronaldo as an easily manipulated figure, Real Madrid's fans went crazy at the sight of their idol pictured as a tortured icon. The released ads pictured the football player as a tortured voodoo doll in a red outfit with number seven written on it, tied to a train track, covered in needles or crushed by a Pepsi can, and as expected they weren't received nicely by the football star.
Ronaldo's fans also revealed their dismay towards the advertising company and started an online war against Pepsi, making a Facebook group called “I'll never drink Pepsi” that gathered more than 115,000 likes. They also started to do their own posters with Ronaldo shining in his one-man game on the Stockholm stadium, while single-handedly securing his country's success.
When seeing the reaction caused by the ads, Pepsi was forced to apologize to Ronaldo and fans. “We would never want to put the sport or the spirit of competition in a negative light. We regret if people were offended by the posts; they were immediately taken down. We would like to extend our apologies to all concerned,” the company said according to MailOnline.
The campaign meant to boost Pepsi's popularity and ease Swedish football fans' pain after the team's defeat was not as inspired as the company thought. The ads had to be immediately removed and Pepsi was left standing as a football fan who does not know how to accept defeat. Pepsi is also a major sponsor for Ronaldo's Barcelona rival, Lionel Messi, which made fans react even worst to the ads.