(Photo Source: usatoday.com)

Many beer drinkers are affiliating Corona beer with the coronavirus

Corona beer faces issues being affiliated with the coronavirus during the worst time for the beer brand. Corona isn’t planning on making marketing changes despite already having to release several statements clarifying there is no link between the beer and the virus.

A new survey of 737 beer drinkers by 5W Public Relations shows 38% of Americans would’s buy Corona beer “under any circumstance” because of the coronavirus outbreak with another 14% saying they wouldn’t order a Corona beer in public. In another poll through YouGov, customers’ intent to purchase Corona fell to its lowest level in two years.

"38% of Americans” and 100% of Heineken Beers, won’t buy Corona beer. #COVID2019 #coronavirusus pic.twitter.com/2u2AV9ITNm

— Huston McKinney, CPA (@hustonmckinney) February 28, 2020

This is probably the worst time for this to happen with the parent holding company, Constellation Brands (STZ), as they’re releasing a new hard seltzer product that cost the brand $40 million to launch. The stock for Constellation experiences a $10 dip per share in the last week alone but the stock market is taking a hit in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

Recently a group of college kids decided to throw a coronavirus theme party where they wore face masks and only served Corona beer, which doesn’t help Corona with this situation. There is also a surge of search engine results for “corona virus beer” and “Corona Beer” is the top trending tweet of the day, which isn’t too good for the beer brand. They’re currently promoting their new product through Twitter sparking some criticism with people tweeting that it might be too soon and that the brand should lay low for a while, but Corona is going to continue their marketing plans and isn’t likely to change their plan anytime soon.