I’m not alone as a Montrealer and Canadiens fan this season in disliking Zdeno Chara, the gigantic defenseman for the Boston Bruins who sent our standout rookie forward, Max Pacioretty, to the hospital with a concussion and fractured vertebra after a hard check by the bench that ultimately kept him off the ice for the remainder of the season.
Many eyes were definitely on Chara during the 7 game playoff series between the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins, not just because of this incident, but because of his more favorable resume attributes, such as being one of the league’s top defensemen, having a record breaking slap shot and being captain of his team.
It was not surprising when the camera panned to him in the third period, but it was curious to see Chara raise a dwarfed bottle of Coca-Cola to rehydrate while on the bench. Not only because Coke isn’t something you think of when it comes to sports drinks, but because the only branded containers allowed all carry Gatorade logos. Naturally, Chara was advised to discontinue this practice in the future, (though NHL athletes are allowed to consume whatever beverages they like as long as they’re in appropriately branded or unbranded containers), since Pepsi, the owner of Gatorade, doesn’t like the competitive advertising.
As an isolated incident it would be a trivial thing to hinder the marketing partnership between the NHL and Pepsi, especially since Coca-Cola’s Powerade would most likely quickly sweep in if Gatorade ever pulled out. However, as a lone incident, it certainly has more viral marketing appeal. This is especially true with the circulating sensationalist title of “Chara’s Coke Problem”. The media are basically feeding a campaign for Coke, based on footage shorter than the average commercial. At the time of writing this, it was the #1 news story on Canoe. That’s saying a lot, considering Osama Bin Laden was announced dead less than 24 hours ago and the royal wedding just wrapped up.
To say that this was an actual promotional stunt would be purely speculative, but Coca-Cola could not have chosen a better candidate if it were. After all, Chara is the captain of the team that would go on to win in overtime of game 7, in a series between hockey franchises of storied and lengthy rivalries, who fought back after being hospitalized for dehydration in the series, only to choose Coke over Gatorade to replenish himself when crunch time hit in the third period. That single shot of Chara with a Coke will resonate closer to home than the usual banner of paid advertisements muted in the background of the rink and the commercials otherwise delegated to muffled background noise during bathroom breaks and refrigerator runs.
