Beaches. Hammocks. Lime.
What’s the first thing that comes to your mind?
Corona, the laid-back beer that wants us all to find our beach.
Even if your reality is sitting in your living room after a long day of work, there’s always that feeling you get while taking the very first sip - the kind of feeling that makes you kick back and relax, as if you were really in vacay mode. The only requisite? A lime wedge.
Corona is a brand that has dared to take the “imagine yourself there” route. Their clever campaigns take what their consumers are already thinking, and amplify it as a reminder to hit the pause button on life and disconnect from real-life drama. To not sweat the small stuff and to live in the moment.
And as a brand, Corona does a wonderful job when it comes to leading by example.
“Log off. Lime in.”
Unperturbed by the current “Corona beer virus” scare situation, where netizens across the world confused the world-famous Mexican-born lager to be a cause of the lethal coronavirus outbreak, Corona told Business Insider that it trusts its customers not to link its beer to the deadly Wuhan microorganism. After nonchalantly shrugging off misinformation spread by social media users, Maggie Bowman, senior communications director at Constellation Brands, Corona's producer, told Business Insider on Wednesday: "We believe, by and large, that consumers understand there's no linkage between the virus and our business.”
It has been about 3 days since Google Trends reported the spike in search results of Corona as well as "beer virus" and "corona beer virus”. Clearly, it has failed to shake the beer brand’s cool as it confidently continues to post pictures of breathtaking seascapes that make you want to book the next flight to the closest beach.
When you share the same name, but can’t belong to the same hood.
The word “corona” literally translates to “crown” in Latin and Spanish. Coronavirus has been reported to have distinct “crown-like” spikes, which explains the name.
The tropical-stye pilsner, on the other hand, is named “Corona” as an acknowledgment to the crown on top of the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located in the Mexican town of Puerto Vallarta, according to Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine. Some sources like Vinepair also say that the beer has been named after the sun’s corona - the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere that also happens to look like the gleaming circumference of the giant ball of fire.
“You win some. You win some.”
While the unfortunate case of word association may have temporarily caused people to panic about drinking Corona, the beer has got plenty of exposure (albeit for the wrong reasons, but still, a silver lining nonetheless in today’s day and age of social media).
As Boing Boing reported in a post titled “No, coronavirus has nothing to do with Corona beer,” Google Trends reported an increase in search interest in “corona beer virus,” “beer virus” and “beer coronavirus” since January 18th. In the case of “corona beer virus,” searches have since surged by 2,300 percent while interest in “beer coronavirus” has increased by 3,233 percent.
Not only that, sites like Instagram and Reddit have been exploding with multiple Coronavirus-Corona memes that are spreading faster than the virus. While some make fun of the brand, others seem to be only too happy to use this as an excuse to drink more Corona.
P.S.: (Don’t) Find Your B(l)each.
On a serious note, Corona beer has nothing to do with the virus. Also, as the infection claims more lives across the world, there’s another conspiracy theory that’s making the rounds on the Internet - on how drinking a bleach concoction can prevent people from contracting the virus.
Unlike the previous confusion, this one is actually dangerous and could have “potentially life-threatening side effects" as described by the Food and Drug Administration. There is no scientific evidence to prove that drinking bleach will help cure or prevent disease and health officials warn that it could cause severe vomiting, diarrhea and acute liver failure.
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