The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is running misleading and counterintuitive ads blaming Republicans for inflation ahead of Labor Day, using foreign stock footage of an Asian beer brand and passing it off as an American beverage.
The DCCC announced the five-figure ad buy on Thursday in order to “blast House Republicans for soaring burger and beer prices,” and to make consumers aware of “how much more they are paying” for their cookout materials this weekend.
“Labor Day is supposed to be a time to celebrate the contributions of the American worker and to relax with neighbors and families over a grill enjoying burgers and beer,” spokesman Viet Shelton said in a statement. “But House Republicans are ruining everyone’s cookouts by making the trip to the grocery store more expensive. The DCCC is going to make sure voters know House Republicans are responsible.”
The short ad, which will run on YouTube and Instagram, “targeted” to men 18-44 years old, features a gold beer can being cracked open with the caption: “Republicans are making the price of beer soar.”
The clip directs viewers to HouseRepublicanPriceHike.com, which falls short because they included three years of the Biden administration’s inflation when calculating food price increases.
The DCCC tried to explain this to FactCheck.org, but was again debunked:
The DCCC told us it started its comparison in mid-2022, when Democrats had control of both houses of Congress and the White House, to show how prices have changed with Republicans now having the trifecta of power. Republicans won control of the House in 2022, but the new legislators didn’t take office until January 2023.
Regardless of the starting point, it’s hard to see how House Republicans are to blame for the price of beef right now. Tariffs, particularly on imports from Brazil, could cause beef prices to continue to go up, but the factors influencing the cost now began a few years ago.
The footage used in the ad itself is a stock video licensed from a Sri Lanka-based content creator who is from Moscow, Russia, according to his LinkedIn profile.
A different angle of the beer can shot by the videographer shows the label of Lion Lager from Biyagama, Sri Lanka — not what Americans typically drink on an American holiday.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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