The Beer Institute’s (BI) Code Compliance Review Board (CCRB) has found that Bud Light’s sponsored content with influencer Dylan Mulvaney did not violate the trade group’s Advertising Marketing Code and Buying Guidelines.
Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) initiated an investigation in May into two posts on Mulvaney’s Instagram page promoting Anheuser Busch InBev’s Bud Light. In a letter to A-B U.S. CEO Brendan Whitworth, Cruz and Blackburn claimed Mulvaney’s audience “skews significantly younger than legal drinking age,” violating the BI’s marketing code.
Cruz filed a formal complaint with the CCRB on June 14.
In a 2-1 decision, the CCRB found that the two challenged Instagram posts do not “have a special attractiveness to persons below the legal drinking age” and thus “there is no violation” of the BI’s code.
The CCRB noted A-B partnered with CreatorIQ – an influencer marketing software company that the CCRB characterized as a “reputable firm” – which found that Mulvaney’s Instagram audience is 80.35% people of legal drinking age, above the BI’s 73.6% requirement.
Additionally, the CCRB addressed the senators’ claims that Mulvaney’s public persona and overall content attempts to target children, with references to “girlhood” and children-targeting brands such as Barbie and Eloise. The CCRB wrote that Mulvaney’s persona “must be judged in its totality” and include her “substantial adult work, including talks shows, music videos, TV shoots and TV series.”
“Mulvaney also advertises a variety of adult products,” CCRB board chairman William Cunningham wrote. “The CCRB concludes that Section 3(a) of the Code does not prohibit entertainers and celebrities from appearing in a beer advertisement, even if they have under drinking age fans.”
However, the CCRB also noted that the BI’s marketing code has “a long history of being amended to meet evolving social, commercial and technological conditions” and urged the BI to “examine the role of influencers and social media in brewer advertising.”
The BI shared the following statement from BI president and CEO Brian Crawford with Brewbound:
“The Code Compliance Review Board, an independent review board convened by the Beer Institute, has carefully assessed a recent complaint and by a 2-1 vote determined that there was no violation of the Beer Institute Advertising and Marketing Code.
As the leading trade association for the U.S. beer industry, the Beer Institute remains a steadfast steward in encouraging our brewer members to promote and practice responsible marketing of their products to legal drinking age adults. As we have done in the past, we will take the Code Compliance Review Board’s recommendations to strengthen the Ad Code seriously and will continue to work with industry stakeholders to update, develop and implement best practices, guidelines and educational initiatives that foster a culture of responsible beer enjoyment.”
CCRB board member Paul Summers provided a dissenting opinion, claiming Mulvaney “has a persona wherein the actor looks and acts like a little girl,” “appeals to little children and often behaves like one.”
Summers also addressed A-B InBev CEO Michel Doukeris’ claim during a May earnings call that the partnership with Mulvaney consisted of “one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign.”
“Whether A-B had a formal partnership or a loose agreement with Mulvaney is of no concern to the CCRB,” Summers wrote. “The brewer knew, or should have known, the consequences of sending the can of beer to Mulvaney or in some other way partnering with the actor.
“The consequences to the company, employees and its shareholders have been incalculable,” he continued. “Those are not issues to be decided by the CCRB. Our concern is whether the brewer violated the code by a preponderance of the evidence. This writer, a CCRB board member, finds that the brewer has violated the code.”
Editors note: This story was updated 7/19 12:15 ET to include Crawford’s statement.