“Just to be abundantly clear,” CNN reassures us, “There is no link between the virus and the beer.”
5W Public Relations said that 38% of Americans wouldn’t buy Corona “under any circumstances” because of the outbreak, and another 14% said they wouldn’t order a Corona in public. The survey encompasses polling from 737 beer drinkers in the United States.
In another survey conducted by YouGov, the firm found consumers’ intent to purchase Corona fell to its lowest level in two years. The survey also showed that Corona’s buzz score, a metric that that measures favorability, has dropped significantly since the beginning of the year.
UPDATE: CNN was bamboozed by a vaguely-worded press release. [h/t Hank Green] The press release was crafted to portray anyone who would never drink Corona as being scared of the virus.
OK, this sounded deeply dubious to me, so I went to the source, which is a PRESS RELEASE that reads like an ad for the PR company: https://t.co/dnkEK1UAd0
The survey says 38% of people wouldn't drink Corona…not that they wouldn't drink Corona "because of the virus." https://t.co/wavLy6ANEC pic.twitter.com/liKkwHAI2N
— Hank Green (Going to Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan!) (@hankgreen) February 28, 2020
As of today, 83,577 people are diagnosed as having it, with nearly 3,000 dead. Coronavirus, that is, not Corona.