Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is calling on the beer industry’s regulatory industry to investigate Bud Light’s ad campaign that featured trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, saying the company violated laws that prohibit marketing alcohol to children.
“A massive percentage of Dylan Mulvaney’s audience are kids, and Budweiser was trying, I believe, with this ill-fated marketing attempt to target teenagers,” Cruz said on Fox News Thursday.
Cruz reportedly sent a letter to Anheuser-Busch CEO Brandon Whitworth — who is also the chairman of the Beer Institute — calling on the body’s Code Compliance Review Board to investigate Bud Light’s campaign.
“We’re calling on the Beer Institute to investigate the degree to which Anheuser-Busch knowingly was marketing to children in going down this road,” Cruz said.
Cruz went on allege that Bud Light “violated the Beer Institute’s Advertising/Marketing Code and Buying Guidelines prohibiting marketing to individuals younger than the legal drinking age.”
“If you look at things Dylan Mulvaney has online, it’s things like ‘days of girlhood.’ There’s another video where Dylan Mulvaney is singing ‘My name is Eloise and I am six.’ There’s another one where Dylan Mulvaney is shopping for Barbie dolls,” Cruz said, referring to Mulvaney’s social media postings. “These are clearly things aimed at teenagers and even children younger than teenagers, which violates the rules.”
Cruz said that the Bud Light campaign was similar to how the tobacco industry targeted children.
“Remember the whole Joe the camel thing? This is the same thing here,” Cruz said.
Watch the video below:
🚨Ted Cruz DEMANDS investigation into Bud Light partnership with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney, targeting children with ads pic.twitter.com/acgOZoX8NX
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 18, 2023
