The fear of Coronavirus has grown exponentially in the last few weeks. As he expanded past China into North America, Europe, and other parts of the world, it was only a matter of time that the game of name association began to impact the beer market.
According to Bloomberg, Corona has been impacted by the fear of coronavirus as memes began to scatter across the internet. Of course, those who aren't able to differentiate the two began inquiring about whether it was Corona beer that was actually the cause of the virus. "Corona beer virus” and “beer coronavirus” became prominent searches over the past few days.
Unfortunately, this isn't one of those situations where Corona is just getting the butt-end of the jokes. This fiasco has even impacted their sales to an extent. As the Olympics threaten to pull out of Tokyo out of fear of the virus, Constellation Brand shares, the company behind Corona, dipped eight percent this week. Even their buzz score, which tracks the amount of brand awareness among adults, has also seen a major decline, going from a high 75 to a 51 at the beginning of the year.
This might not actually entirely be because of Coronavirus. YouGov's business data said the possibility of a dip in sales can be related to the fact Corona is perceived as a summer drink.