WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following the release of his oversight letter calling on the Beer Institute to investigate Bud Light’s marketing partnership with social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, and the opening of his probe of Anheuser-Busch’s clear failure to exercise appropriate due diligence, Sen. Cruz joined Fox News’s Fox and Friends and Fox Business’s Varney & Co to discuss his efforts. Excerpts of Sen. Cruz’s comments and coverage of the probe are included below.
WATCH: Sen. Cruz on Fox News’s Fox and Friends
TRANSCRIPT: “Well, listen, I can’t think of a company in modern times that has more alienated its customer base and seemed to have so little understanding of who it is that actually drinks Bud Light. But this week, I sent a letter to the CEO of Anheuser-Busch along with Senator Marsha Blackburn because the CEO of Anheuser-Busch is also the CEO or the Chairman of the Beer Institute, which is the regulatory body, the industry regulatory body that regulates itself. And, one of the rules that beer companies are supposed to follow is they’re not supposed to market to kids. Remember the whole ‘Joe the Camel’ thing – this is the same thing here.
“Well, you know what, a massive percentage of Dylan Mulvaney’s audience are kids. Budweiser was trying I believe, with this ill-fated marketing attempt, to target teenagers. If you look at things Dylan Mulvaney has online it’s things like ‘days of girl hood.’ 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. These are clearly things aimed at teenagers and even children younger than teenagers, which violates the rules, and so 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.”
WATCH: Sen. Cruz on Fox Business’s Varney & Co.
TRANSCRIPT: “I have to say, in the last month or so I don’t think I’ve seen a major company so alienate a major portion of their customer base. They just seem to so misunderstand who it is that drinks Bud Light. But I also am very concerned, so in the last few days, I joined with Senator Marsha Blackburn, and sent a letter to the CEO of Anheuser-Busch, who was also the Chairman of the Beer Institute. The Beer Institute is the industry regulatory body that regulates beer sales and, in particular, what our letter focused on is their marketing agreement with Dylan Mulvaney, aside from being foolish marketing, was also I believe, clearly targeting children. And there are strict constraints on the beer industry, not to market to children. Remember the whole ‘Joe Camel’ thing? Well here, Dylan Mulvaney on TikTok, on Instagram, has millions of children following. And not only that, you look at Dylan Mulvaney’s entire pitch, that there’s a whole series daily Mulvaney has done ‘days of girlhood.’ There’s another series where Dylan Mulvaney sings, ‘I am Eloise and I am six years old.’ There’s another video that has 7.1 million views where Dylan Mulvaney goes shopping for Barbie dolls. Now all of those are not targeting adult drinkers. Those are targeting teenagers or with Barbie dolls, even younger, preteens, which is directly contrary to the rules governing the marketing of beer. And so we’re calling on the Beer Institute to investigate the degree to which Anheuser-Busch made a business decision that they wanted to market to children because they thought they could earn profits from doing so.”
To learn more about the Sen. Cruz’s probe, click HERE.