The advertising campaign for the new drink Corona Hard Seltzer failed due to the spread of the virus from China.
Controversy arose after Corona introduced its alcoholic drink Hard Seltzer: a video on Twitter showed cans of the drink on the beach and the slogan "Coming Ashore Soon". Thousands of users commented on the video and accused the brand of using the growing threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus for its advertising campaign.
When Corona introduced the Corona Hard Seltzer, there were still few signs that the coronavirus was spreading to the US. The company launched the campaign following news that cases of the coronavirus had skyrocketed in South Korea and Italy. Reports indicated that the virus was spreading further and further outside of China. As the week progressed, the news got worse and worse. US health officials have warned that the number of coronavirus infections is likely to rise even if they try to quell the growing public panic.
There are already signs that the coronavirus threat is wreaking havoc brand Corona and causes confusion among consumers. According to the US service SEMrush, the number of search queries for the phrases “corona beer virus” and “beer coronavirus” has increased over the past few weeks. And the desire to buy Corona drinks among adults in the US has fallen to its lowest level in the last two years. It is also known that more than a third (38%) of American beer drinkers said they would not buy Corona now under any circumstances, and 16% said they were not sure if Corona beer is related to the virus.
