Is there a cure for idiocy?
Because that’s where we’ve landed in the discussion regarding the relationship — or, more accurately, non-relationship — between coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, and Corona beer.
Constellation Brands, the U.S. manufacturer of the imported Mexican beer, took the extraordinary step Friday afternoon of issuing a press release to insist that its business is just fine after a New York public relations firm claimed that “38 percent of beer-drinking Americans would not buy Corona under any circumstances now.”
The firm, 5WPR, said it was examining “opinions about the popular Mexican beer brand, Corona, as a result of the deadly coronavirus that’s spreading around the world.”
The 38 percent statistic was sent on wide blast and summarily ignored by many media outlets — including the baiduhai ? Thursday evening. But it was seized upon by CNN Business and the New York Post, among others, and repeated seemingly endlessly on social media.
Such articles cited the 38 percent statistic, sometimes accompanied by information from an article by public opinion and data company YouGov that says “coronavirus is creating negative buzz around Corona beer.” According to YouGov, Corona’s “buzz score” — which grades positive and negative feelings around a brand — has decreased “from a high score of 75 at the beginning of January to 51 as of late February.”
By Friday, Constellation Brands decided it had had enough.
The company’s press release began by issuing “thoughts and prayers … to those affected by this terrible virus” before getting down to business.
“It’s extremely unfortunate that recent misinformation about the impact of this virus on our business has been circulating in traditional and social media without further investigation or validation,” Bill Newlands, president and chief executive officer at Constellation Brands, is quoted in the press release.
“These claims simply do not reflect our business performance and consumer sentiment, which includes feedback from our distributor and retailer partners across the country. We’ve seen no impact to our people, facilities or operations and our business continues to perform very well. Unlike many of our competitors, sales of our beer brands are focused almost entirely on the U.S. market. Our company does not have much exposure to international markets such as China that have been most impacted by this situation. I’m extremely proud of the efforts of our team. We’ve built good momentum as we gear up for the upcoming summer selling season.”
The press release cited IRI market research firm data that shows Corona dollar sales are up about 5 percent during the four-week period ending Feb. 16 — which in fact is close to double the brand’s 2.4 percent growth in 2019.
According to IRI statistics released at the end of January, Corona is the nation’s seventh-biggest selling beer with more than $110 million in sales since the start of the year. Volume sales for Corona were up 3.1 percent at the end of January, ahead of its 1 percent growth in 2019.
As for that 38 percent statistic that appears to have Corona beer on its deathbed? New York-based 5WPR says the information is based on a phone survey taken this week of 737 “American beer drinkers over the age of 21.”
5WPR also reported that four percent of regular Corona drinkers said they would stop drinking Corona due to coronavirus while 14 percent “said they wouldn’t order Corona in a public venue.” Also, 16 percent “of beer drinking Americans were confused about whether Corona beer is related to the coronavirus,” 5WPR claimed.
“There is no question that Corona beer is suffering because of the coronavirus. Could one imagine walking into a bar and saying “Hey, can I have a Corona?” or “Pass me a Corona,” Ronn Torossian, founder and chief executive officer of 5WPR is quoted in the press release issued Thursday. “While the brand has claimed that consumers understand there’s no linkage between the virus and the beer company, this is a disaster for the Corona brand. After all, what brand wants to be linked to a virus which is killing people worldwide?”
A call to Torossian was diverted to 5WPR’s marketing department Friday afternoon and a message was not returned.
Website TruthOrFiction.com
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rated the 38 percent statistic as “decontextualized” — and also noted that 5WPR has counted Constellation Brands’ competitor Anheuser-Busch as a client. Torossian followed up by email to confirm that Anheuser-Busch is a past 5WPR client. A spokesman for Anheuser-Busch said he was looking into that claim.