Product Sales and Unintentional Name Association with the Coronavirus Pandemic
AAEA members release new research in JAAEA
In the U.S. each positive case of COVID-19 is estimated to increase weekly dollar sales of Corona beer by $5.3 compared to other major beer brands, which means Corona beer would have achieved additional sales of more than $30 million in the U.S. market by the end of August 2020 based on the present number of positive cases across the country.
In the new open access Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, Yuqing Zheng from University of Kentucky, Lingxiao Wang from University of Wisconsin – Madison, Shuoli Zhao from University of Kentucky, and Wuyang Hu from the Ohio State University published the article “Product Sales and Unintentional Name Association with the Coronavirus Pandemic” and look into how the Pandemic has stimulated various consumer behavioral changes. They were motivated by the fact that Corona beer’s name unexpectedly shares the cause of the COVID-19 disease, known as the coronavirus.
Zheng says, “As a top imported beer brand in the United States, Corona might have a brand loyalty that benefited disproportionately from a pandemic-induced change in consumer preference for beers. In addition, the increasing attention on social media, regardless of positive or negative topics, could serve as brand exposure that enhance the sales of Corona beer. If one believes in “any publicity is good publicity”, consumer awareness can be heightened by media exposure regardless of positive or negative association.”
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