For KKR, Shahrukh Rescinds His Association with Pepsi

Not long time ago, when Centre for Science and Environment, an NGO based in Delhi which works on environment related issues, had waged a campaign against dunking of cola, Shahrukh Khan had gone on record to inform that he had a Pepsi fountain installed in his house. Now that he has decided to change his allegiance to Coke, whether as a bargain deal, the fountain of his house would also be changed would be a matter of speculation, but would indeed have great gossip value.

For the sake of his team it seems Shahrukh Khan has changed the brand of cola that he endorses and drinks. Now it would be the products from the Atlanta based Coke which would be endorsed by Shahrukh Khan as the company has decided to become the official sponsor for his team, Kolkata Knight Riders. It would really be out of place for Shahrukh Khan in such a scenario to endorse a rival brand personally, when his team is being endorsed by other brand. For Coke it would indeed be manna from heaven as along with Shahrukh they would also get a whole bunch of endorsers, leading among them would be Sourav Ganguly .

It has been learnt reliably that Sprite has been selected to be sponsor of Kolkata Knight Riders. This tie-up has been entered into for a period of two years. While Pepsi may have decided to drop Shahrukh and select somebody else for their brand endorsement, they would not have bargained that the competitor would become the brand for the team that Shahrukh owns, Kolkata Knight Riders.

While Pepsi may have taken this decision in alignment with their image of being a drink of the youth, they may not have bargained for this deal from Shahrukh Khan. There would however be a clash of interest, as Pepsi has recently picked up Ishant Sharma as the new brand endorser for its product, and he is the main strike bowler for Kolkata Knight Riders. It would indeed be a contagious situation, and wriggling out of this situation would require quite a lot of acumen.

It is same kind of situation that emanated during the Peking Olympic games, where different brand s were selected as the official sponsors, while the players had their own individual brand endorsements. So, the authorities at Olympics had imposed a blanket ban on display of individual products, would the same be done in the case of Kolkata Knight Riders, one does not know.