Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has called on Anheuser-Busch and the Beer Institute to investigate the marketing relationship with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney whose social media followers are primarily under 21.
Mulvaney, who has more than 10 million followers on TikTok, and nearly 2 million on Instagram, posted a series of videos advertising Bud Light and showing off a personalized beer can.
“The Beer Institute must examine whether your company violated the Beer Institute’s Advertising/Marketing Code and Buying Guidelines prohibiting marketing to individuals younger than the legal drinking age,” the letter reads.
The social media personality gained notoriety for chronicling his gender transition, which he dubbed “365 Days of Girlhood.”
“This month, I celebrated my day 365 of womanhood, and Bud Light sent me possibly the best gift ever—a can with my face on it,” Mulvaney said on April 1.
What Else Does the Letter Say?
The five-page letter outlines the senators’ concerns and calls on Anheuser-Busch to end its relationship with Mulvaney.Cruz and Blackburn said Mulvaney’s “series titled ‘Days of Girlhood’ which received over 750 million views in less than 100 days” should have been the “first red flag to Anheuser-Busch that it was entering into a partnership with an individual whose audience skews impermissibly below the Beer Institute’s proscribed guidelines,” the letter states.
“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 letter continued.
The senators say Mulvaney’s video content “clearly presents a faux, pre-pubescent girl persona” targeting a young audience.
One of Mulvaney’s videos shows the transgender influencer dressed as a small child while lip-syncing, “I am Eloise, I am six.” Cruz and Blackburn pointed out that the video garnered more than 7.1 million views and aired less than two weeks before the Bud Light partnership.
The video called “Day 100 of being a girl,” shows Mulvaney giving away cash and merchandise to teen girls. It was viewed more than 11 million times.
Still, another video that had more than 9.6 million views features Mulvaney “pandering to teen developmental issues when he recorded a TikTok pining about ‘30,000 people want to be my first kiss as a girl.’”
Finally, the senators pointed to a fourth video of Mulvaney shopping for Barbie dolls at a Target store.
“Mattel, the maker of Barbie, has, according to market analysts, a ‘clearly demarcated target for [the] Barbie doll [consisting of] young girls 3-12 years of age...’” the letter said.
The senators compared the Mulvaney partnership to the now illegal marketing campaigns of cigarette makers.
“The Mulvaney/Bud Light campaign is starkly similar to the discredited and now illegal marketing campaigns of cigarette manufacturers that used youth-flavored advertising tools such as ‘Joe Camel’ in an attempt to develop early brand loyalty with children who were legally prohibited from smoking cigarettes,” the letter said.
Cruz and Blackburn said the evidence is overwhelmingly clear that the marketing campaign with Mulvaney violates the standards required by the Beer Institute.
They urged the Anhauser-Busch to “immediately review all of their influencer relationships and sever any and all ties” with persons or online personas that violate the standards, including the relationship with Mulvaney.
If the beer maker fails to take the steps outlined, the senators asked that the Beer Institute find Anhauser-Busch in violation of the guidelines and order them to sever their relationship with Mulvaney.
