In Brazil, brewer Karsten adapted their logo and slogan, to to resemble a pair of lungs – the main site of COVID-19 infection – with the slogan “Good beer is like air: you can’t live without it”. Their marketing encouraged people to consume more alcohol during COVID-19 isolation by through their 3 key tips to survive with Karsten – “isolate, use sanitiser and drink beer for fun”.
US beer brand Dos Equis, designed and promoted a Seis Foot Cooler, a 6-Foot ‘Social Distancing Cooler’ and did a give-away to ‘help you drink responsibly’. Again promoting increased alcohol consumption during the pandemic.
In India, the beer brand Bira re-marketed their branded facemasks, which were already being produced targeting pollution, ironic considering beer depreciates natural water resources and beer bottles and cans add to pollution.
Budweiser Streetwear Co launched a ‘fashion forward’ and ‘essential’ branded facemask design through their new apparel brand to appeal to Indian millennials. Kingfisher beer was promoted via a set of “Good Times” wallpaper backgrounds for video calls within the “Divided by screens, united by Kingfisher” campaign.
In the UK, the Get Wine App was quick to push promotions of rapid alcohol delivery within 30 minutes as lockdown restrictions came into force.