Anheuser-Busch and transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney have something new to consider as they survey the carnage resulting from their woke entry into the culture wars.
Multiple Republican lawmakers now demand an inquiry into the beer giant’s marketing through the activist over concerns of targeting minors. Who exactly was the collaboration targeting in an effort to sway them to imbibe Bud Light?
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) wrote a joint letter to Anheuser-Busch CEO and Beer Institute chairman Brendan Whitworth. Its goal was clear.
The pair asked for an investigation into who the intended customers the alliance with Mulvaney was designed to attract. The Beer Institute’s Advertising/Marketing Code and Buying Guidelines ban efforts to market alcoholic beverages to those below legal drinking age.
Dylan Mulvaney’s content is directed at a younger audience – he bought Barbie dolls and roleplayed as a 6-year-old named Eloise.
Bud Light is an adult beverage.
Anheuser-Busch needs to answer our questions about their partnership with Mulvaney. pic.twitter.com/8gEx6POpjY
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) May 18, 2023
Not only does the transgender mouthpiece’s audience tend to be under 21, but the title of his online series, “Days of Girlhood,” might provide a clue as to who he is attempting to attract.
He has 1.8 million followers on Instagram and 10.8 million on TikTok. One video featured Mulvaney declaring “I am Eloise. I am 6’ while dressed as a small child.”
A posting that drew 11 million views featured the influencer at a shopping mall handing out money and items to teenage girls. The letter from Cruz and Blackburn noted that one of the recipients “was still in braces.”
Still another TikTok video showed Mulvaney in Target shopping for Barbie dolls.
The senators wrote that his “girlhood” persona is not an accident. Rather, it is “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.”
The letter requested a response by the end of May.
The senators also asked for all communications concerning the collaboration between Bud Light and Mulvaney. They included in their request scripts for social media and audits showing the ages of his followers.
The beer brand and its parent company have rushed to put distance between themselves and the influencer after sales plummeted amidst public outrage.
