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Salman Khan being eased out of Coke ads

Reeba Zachariah in Mumbai

Bollywood macho man Salman Khan seems to be completely out of favour with Coca-Cola.

After taking all Thums Up advertisements featuring Khan off the air, Coke is now unwilling to extend the contract with the superstar which expires in December.

Khan has been associated with Thums Up for over two years now. Coke, it appears from the latest campaign of Thums Up, has already identified his replacement: action hero Akshay 'Khiladi' Kumar.

Coca-Cola officials refused to comment on the Salman Khan issue 'as the matter was subjudice.'

Khan was recently arrested for alleged drunken driving which killed one person and maimed three.

Khan was the star that spearheaded the Thums Up Grow Up Challenge campaign. Apart from Khan, Coke had also pitched in Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen in the campaign.

The Thums Up campaign, Coca-Cola had claimed, had resulted in a whopping 40 per cent increase in brand preference and a noticeable increase in market share last year.

The Thums Up Challenge last year played the Pepsi-tastes-sweet card and tried to reposition Pepsi as a drink for kids.

The Challenge campaign had triggered a series of television commercials from both the soft drink majors-Pepsi and Coca-Cola -taking digs at each other and which eventually got them entangled in a court battle.

For its flagship brand Coca-Cola, Aamir Khan-starred "Thanda matlab Coca-Cola" commercials had made a good recall resulting in higher ratings of its advertisement.

It will soon unveil its new campaign "Life ke har mod pe Coca-Cola" (Coca-Cola at every turn of life) featuring cricket star Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag.

Meanwhile, adding to its line up of celebrity endorsers, the cola major has signed on model-turned-actress Bipasha Basu.

Coca-Cola with its five brands (Coke, Limca, Thums Up, Sprite and Fanta) has a share of 58 per cent of the carbonated soft drinks market in India.

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