A coalition of GOP lawmakers are pressuring Paramount Global and CBS to ditch Super Bowl ads from a Chinese company they believe is making its products with forced labor, according to a letter obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller.
Republican West Virginia Rep. Carol Miller alongside ten other lawmakers demanded Thursday that the network block Temu from spending a reported $15 million on ads during CBS’s Super Bowl broadcast on Feb. 11. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party reported that Temu does not have any system in place to ensure compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, leading the lawmakers to believe that the company is using forced labor, the letter obtained by the Daily Caller says. (RELATED: Biden To Dodge Primetime Super Bowl Interview For Second Straight Year: Report)
“The Chinese Communist Party wants to profit off the United States every chance they get. It is disgusting to subject the American people to a reported $15 million worth of ads for products made with Uyghur slave labor,” Miller said in a statement to the Daily Caller. “Allowing Temu to air these ads during the most popular American sporting event would effectively be an endorsement of what the CCP stands for. I strongly urge CBS to remove any ad by Temu from the Super Bowl LVIII commercials.”
Paramount Global declined to comment on the record for this story.
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party also found that Temu’s parent company, PDD Holdings, engages in “substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy” through their other subsidiary company Pindoudou, the letter states.
A source close to the matter told the Daily Caller that anything Paramount Global puts up complies with U.S. law and regulation and with the company’s standards.
“Temu previously used last year’s Super Bowl advertisements to reach millions of Americans when the company was largely unknown in our market,” the lawmakers wrote.
The Super Bowl broadcast historically brings in tens of millions of viewers each year, making it prime ad space for companies. In 2023, Super Bowl LVII was the most-watched telecast in history, as about 115.1 million viewers tuned into the game across numerous platforms, according to Nielsen.
Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, New Jersey Rep. Christopher H. Smith, Rep. Minnesota Pete Stauber, Texas Rep. Ronny L. Jackson, California Rep. Michelle Steel, Texas Rep. Beth Van Duyne, Indiana Rep. James R. Baird and Ohio Rep. Mike Carey all signed onto the letter alongside Miller.
“Given some of these notable examples of Temu, Pindoudou, and PDD Holdings’ blatant disregard for the rule of law in the United States, we respectfully request that your companies not air any television advertisements that either company has provided you with during your broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII and related programing. Allowing these commercials to air would be a touchdown for the Chinese Communist Party against the home team,” the letter says.
