Tipsheet

Anheuser-Busch Now Has Another Problem to Deal With

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  May 19, 2023 9:00 AM

Declining sales may not be the only part of the Dylan Mulvaney saga Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch has to worry about.

Republican lawmakers are now calling for an investigation into the brand’s partnership with the transgender activist over concerns about who the company was marketing its products to with the collaboration.

In a joint letter to Anheuser-Busch CEO and Beer Institute chairman Brendan Whitworth, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) ask Whitworth and the Beer Institute’s Code Compliance Review Board to investigate whether the partnership "violated the Beer Institute's Advertising/Marketing Code and Buying Guidelines prohibiting marketing to individuals younger than the legal drinking age."

The lawmakers point out that Mulvaney’s audience “skews significantly younger than the legal drinking age” and the name of his series, “Days of Girlhood,” should have been a warning sign to the company.

“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 wrote, giving several examples of this from Mulvaney’s videos.  

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“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 letter continues. 

Moreover, Cruz and Blackburn say the company's failure to do its due diligence when choosing influencers warrants congressional oversight and they ask for a number of documents to "help clarify how Anheuser-Busch vets its partnerships and how Anheuser-Busch failed in assessing the propriety of a partnership with Dylan Mulvaney."

The senators request the documents no later than May 31, 2023.