Constellation Brands Says Beer Business Strong Despite Unfounded Claims About the Impact Coronavirus

On Friday, Constellation Brands issued a statement after a survey conducted recently showed Americans were not purchasing Corona Beer due to the Coronavirus.

According to the 5WPR Survey, it says it conducted a phone survey of 737 American beer drinkers regarding their opinion of the beer Corona as a result of the coronavirus that has spread around the world:

5WPR’s survey found that:

• 38% of beer-drinking Americans would not buy Corona under any circumstances now
• Among those who said they usually drink Corona, only 4% said they would stop drinking Corona, but 14% said they wouldn’t order Corona in a public venue
• 16% of beer drinking Americans were confused about whether Corona beer is related to the coronavirus

“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,” said Ronn Torossian, Founder and CEO of 5WPR. “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?”

Constellation Brands refuted the survey saying Corona Extra sales were up 5% over the last 4-weeks.

Full response, Constellation Brands said the following:

VICTOR, N.Y.– Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B), a leading beverage alcohol company, today provided a response including fact-based consumer trends to address unfounded concerns about the impact of the COVID-19 virus on its business and consumer sentiment related to the company’s Corona beer brand.

Based on recent IRI retail trends, sales of Corona Extra remain strong, with dollar sales up 5% in the U.S. per the latest 4-week period ended Feb. 16, nearly doubling the 52-week trend for the brand. Similarly, depletion trends for Corona Extra for the first two months of this calendar year through Feb. 26, as well as the month of February, have also outpaced their 52-week trend. In addition, IRI dollar sales trends for the entire Corona brand family are also outpacing their 52-week trend in the latest 4-week and 12-week periods. Furthermore, all business units supporting our beer business are seeing positive sales trends for the brand thus far this calendar year.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by this terrible virus and we hope efforts to more fully contain it gain traction soon,” said Bill Newlands, president and chief executive officer at Constellation Brands. “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. 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 CCC Department of Public Health urges all members of our community to adhere to the following recommendations to prevent the spread of any respiratory virus, including COVID-19: