CNN is under fire for more “fake news” in a new story suggesting Americans are avoiding Corona beer due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The wording of a CNN Business article claimed that sales of Corona beer are suffering and that 38 percent of Americans won’t buy Corona beer because of the pandemic.
“Corona beer isn’t making any changes to its advertising despite the name’s unfortunate similarity to the deadly coronavirus,” the CNN Business post, by Jordan Valinsky, stated. “Constellation Brands (STZ), which brews several variations of the popular lager, said in a statement that its customers ‘understand there is no link between the virus and our business.'”
But the article went on to cite a recent survey that showed 38 percent of Americans “would not buy Corona beer ‘under any circumstances’ because of the outbreak.”
38% of Americans wouldn’t buy Corona beer “under any circumstances” because of the coronavirus, according to a recent survey.
Just to be abundantly clear: There is no link between the virus and the beer. https://t.co/xNUnkZvwtE
— CNN International (@cnni) February 28, 2020
According to CNN:
Two surveys released this week show that the Corona’s brand is suffering from negative buzz.
5W Public Relations said that 38% of Americans wouldn’t buy Corona “under any circumstances” because of the outbreak, and another 14% said they wouldn’t order a Corona in public. The survey encompasses polling from 737 beer drinkers in the United States.
But the claim soon came under fire as it became clear that the CNN article had added a few keywords to the survey results.
OK, now that we’ve had our fun imagining that 38% of Americans are fucking idiots…let’s realize that we’re all idiots for believing that CNN would check the source on this before tweeting out clickbait that makes us think less of our neighbors. https://t.co/wavLy6jcg2
— Hank Green (Going to Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan!) (@hankgreen) February 28, 2020
The phrase “because of the outbreak” in the quote was apparently not part of the survey but added by CNN.
The source? It’s a press release from a PR company. They did a survey. They did not release the methodology of the survey, but here is the only parts of it they shared. pic.twitter.com/cjCu6R22Ki
— Hank Green (Going to Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan!) (@hankgreen) February 28, 2020
“Constellation Brands’ stock dropped 8% on Thursday, although the entire stock market has fallen sharply as fear grows about the spread of coronavirus,” the CNN article added.
Twitter user Hank Green spelled out the problems with the post in a series of tweets.
Saying, “38% of Americans would not by Corona under any circumstances now” intentionally implies “now that Coronavirus is a thing.” But it does not actually mean that.
— Hank Green (Going to Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan!) (@hankgreen) February 28, 2020
Second thing…4% of current Corona drinkers are going to stop drinking Corona. So…ok, maybe 4% of people are idiots…but WE KNEW THAT ALREADY, and that’s very different from pic.twitter.com/Nq5llvW4LN
— Hank Green (Going to Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan!) (@hankgreen) February 28, 2020
And finally, 16% of Americans are “confused about” whether the beer and the virus are related. That could be everything from “DID THIS BEER GAVE PEOPLE A VIRUS?!” to “I do not know the etymology of the word ‘corona'”
It is a /nothing/ question. It means nothing.
— Hank Green (Going to Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan!) (@hankgreen) February 28, 2020
Other Twitter users also weighed in on the misleading claim that seemed to imply more than one-third of beer-drinking Americans wouldn’t buy Corona under any circumstances because of the virus.
After looking into it. This is untrue. The survey doesn’t state the 38% aren’t drinking it cos of the virus. It’s just 38% of people won’t drink the beer for whatever reason. Not due to virus.
— Lonely Goomba (@LonelyGoomba) February 28, 2020
Fake news CNN strikes again.
— Christine Qualey (@chris_qualey) February 28, 2020
These same people plan to vote for #Socialism. ?♂️
— Fendar (@fendar) February 28, 2020
— L8N?? ??????? ??????? (@PacificAirPhoto) February 28, 2020
Oh snap beer is not getting Americans sick a beer is not Coronavirus. We are doomed. pic.twitter.com/C5RRzmg15G
— David Miles Knight (@MrFly187) February 28, 2020
This headline made me cringe. Then I read the article. 737 surveyed beer drinkers wouldn’t buy Corona b/c of disdain for an ad they thought was in “poor taste” (~it’s coming ashore~), *NOT* for fear of the #coronavirusus.
Do better @CNN. #coronavirusus #RDchat #FactsNotFear https://t.co/8nybu8Mmjo
— Dustin Moore, MS, RD (@theamericanrd) February 28, 2020
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Frieda@bizpacreview.com
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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