London, Oct 3 (ANI): Coca-Cola has apparently axed 'love-rat' Wayne Rooney from new its new ad campaign.
Plans to feature Rooney's face on the side of millions of cans were scrapped after bosses in America branded him 'disgusting' for allegedly sleeping with prostitutes while his Coleen wife was pregnant.
The 24-year-old Manchester United and England footballer earns 600,000 pounds a year in sponsorship from the soft-drinks giant.
His image was set to appear on cans and bottles of Coke Zero in a multi-million-pound ad campaign to run from now until 2011.
However, sources in America say company bosses there want to drop Rooney's sponsorship deal completely because they are concerned that lurid stories about his private life do not tie in with Coca-Cola's wholesome family image.
A US source said executives at Coca-Cola's Atlanta head-quarters were so 'appalled' by his behaviour that they scrapped plans to feature him on the Coke Zero cans.
"The executives at head office in Atlanta wanted to drop him straight away. They were bewildered by the stories and found reports of his conduct disgusting," the Daily Mail quoted the source as saying.
"There have been other stories about him cavorting with prostitutes and he was even photographed urinating against a wall in the summer. This is not something the American executives in Atlanta found acceptable at all.
"Coca-Cola is a family-friendly company and Wayne Rooney was brought on board to appeal to young people, specifically young men and teenage boys.
"The executives in Atlanta wanted to dump him immediately but his representatives and the executives of Coca-Cola in London begged them to reconsider. In the end, they changed their whole campaign for Coke Zero, which must have cost a fortune. Wayne's face was going to be on the side of every can and bottle but now it will not be," the source added. (ANI)
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