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Senators Ted Cruz, Marsha Blackburn launch investigation into Bud Light’s targeting of underage individuals
Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee have initiated an investigation into the Beer Institute, the beer industry’s self-regulatory body.
The senators are urging the association to examine whether Anheuser-Busch’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney violates the institute’s guidelines, which prohibit marketing to underage individuals.
In a letter addressed to Brendan Whitworth, who is both CEO of Anheuser-Busch and chairman of the Beer Institute, Senators Cruz and Blackburn raised concerns about the age distribution of Mulvaney’s targeted audience and the content of his social media posts.
The senators called on Anheuser-Busch to sever its relationship with Mulvaney and for the company to issue a public apology for marketing alcoholic beverages to minors. They have also requested the removal of any Anheuser-Busch content from Mulvaney’s social media platforms.
The letter laid out evidence demonstrating that Mulvaney’s audience is largely composed of individuals below the legal drinking age.
Mulvaney has 1.8 million followers on Instagram and 10.8 million followers on TikTok. His talent agency, CAA, highlighted the success of his “Days of Girlhood” series, which accumulated over 750 million views in less than 100 days.
According to the senators, Mulvaney’s online content raises concerns about deliberate targeting and marketing of beer toward a young audience.
Two specific examples: The first involved Mulvaney lip-syncing the line “I am Eloise, I am six” while dressed as a small child, garnering 7.1 million views. The second showcased Mulvaney’s “Day 100 of being a girl” video, filmed at a mall, where he distributed merchandise and cash to teenage girls, one of whom still wore braces. That video amassed over 11 million views.
“The use of the phrase ‘Girlhood’ was not a slip of the tongue but rather emblematic of a series of Mulvaney’s online content that was specifically used to target, market to, and attract an audience of young people who are well below the legal drinking age in the United States,” the senators said.
“The evidence detailed below overwhelmingly shows that Dylan Mulvaney’s audience skews significantly younger than the legal drinking age and violates the Beer Institute’s Advertising/Marketing Code and Buying Guidelines. We would urge you, in your capacity at Anheuser-Busch, to avoid a lengthy investigation by the Beer Institute by instead having Anheuser-Busch publicly sever its relationship with Dylan Mulvaney, publicly apologize to the American people for marketing alcoholic beverages to minors, and direct Dylan Mulvaney to remove any Anheuser-Busch content from his social media platforms,” the senators wrote in their letter to Anheuser-Busch.
Sens. Cruz and Blackburn requested several documents from Anheuser-Busch related to its partnership with Mulvaney. The documents include communications, social media content scripts, content solicitations, and information regarding the company’s corporate policy for advertising on social media platforms.
Anheuser-Busch has yet to respond publicly to the senators’ letter and the opening of the investigation.
The full letter from the senators is at this link.
Photo: From Mulvaney’s TikTok page, a still from the video featured Mulvaney, who completed her “365 Days of Girlhood” series documenting the first year of her transition on TikTok, drinking Bud Light while in a bubble bath.
