Global brand PepsiCo ended its 11-year endorsement contract with India's One-day and Twenty20 Cricket Captain MS Dhoni. The news comes only a couple of days after Dhoni failed to get India over the line in the 1st T20I against theWest Indies, and might indicate that Dhoni’s long reign as one of the most wanted faces for advertisers might be coming to an end. He will be replaced by Virat Kohli as the icon for the company. PepsiCo currently has stars like Indian cricket star, Virat Kohli, Ranbir Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra as brand ambassadors. Confirming about the company’s move, Vipul Prakash, VP, PepsiCo Beverages India said that at PepsiCo, company’s focus in advertising and marketing is to make its products the hero and celebrate the hero. The idea will always play the most important role.

 

If there's a role for the celebrity that helps take forward the idea of celebrating our product, company is more than happy to taking it further. The company has a history roping in popular Bollywood celebrities and sports personalities for the endorsement of its various products. Signed up in 2005, Dhoni was a part of several popular campaigns run by Pepsico, for its popular brands like Pepsi and Lay's chips. Dhoni retired as the captain of the Test at the end of 2014. At the stage, he represented 18 brands. Now, the list is said to be less than 10 and is certainly a less distinguished one.