Ever since CNN tweeted that 38% of “Americans wouldn’t buy Corona beer ‘under any circumstances’ because of the coronavirus,” the internet has been going wild.
The majority of responses on Twitter have been poking fun at how Americans were relating the beer to the virus, with some even going so far to feel sorry for the beer company because of the“idiots” ruining its business.
“Stupid Americans really avoiding Corona brand beer because of the Coronavirus. I’m so freaking tired…” Twitter user @xeno_odysseyjae said.
There has been an uptick in searches for “Corona beer virus” and “beer virus,” leading to the conclusion that some Americans are confusing the beer brand and deadly virus. Yet, there is no substantial evidence to suggest Americans who drank the beer stopped drinking it because of the coronavirus.
HuffPost did some investigating and found that the results of the poll may have been taken out of context. For starters, the poll CNN is referencing was done by a public relations agency, and the press release for it didn’t provide details on which questions were asked to yield its results.
HuffPost was able to find the questions, as the PR film provided them to a conservative site called The Dispatch. These were the questions asked by the firm:
- Are you a beer drinker?
- Are you a Corona drinker?
- Is Corona related to the coronavirus? (16% of beer-drinkers were “confused” about this.)
- In light of the coronavirus, do you plan to stop drinking Corona? (4% who “usually drink Corona” said they planned to stop.)
- Would you buy Corona in a store?
- Would you order a Corona in a restaurant/bar/public venue? (14% who “usually drink Corona” said they would not.)
- Would you buy Corona under any circumstances now? (38% of “beer-drinking Americans” said they would not.)
From these questions, one can see how the “38%” was perhaps taken out of context, but also, the way it was worded means that people who answered the questions could have just been stating that they wouldn’t buy Corona beer at all. As HuffPost notes, the last three questions don’t even mention the virus. The lack of clarity could have caused general confusion to those who were answering the questions.
READ MORE:
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H/T HuffPost