ADVERTISEMENT The controversy keeps on growing regarding American Eagle’s now-viral ad campaign – which declares “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”.
The play on words “jeans” and “genes” throughout the ads have led many to criticise the homonym implication, with some going so far as to label the advertisements as “Nazi” and glorifying white supremacy.
One of the campaign’s most polarising clips features the 27-year-old actress saying: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.”
Check out our explainer on the Sydney Sweeney controversy.
Some reactions to the controversy have gone viral, while US conservatives have seized on the indignation to blast “woke” advertising. The White House even got involved, with communications director Steven Cheung writing online: “Cancel culture run amok. This warped, moronic and dense liberal thinking is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024. They’re tired of this bullshit.”
Now, the US fashion retailer has finally responded to the backlash surrounding its campaign featuring the Euphoria and White Lotus actress.
“Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story,” they posted on Instagram. “We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
This message marked the first time the retailer responded to days of backlash, and it remains unclear if the company was purposefully courting controversy with the ads.
On the same day that American Eagle issued its statement, vice president JD Vance defended the campaign, saying: “My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi. That appears to be their actual strategy.”
He continued: “I mean, it actually reveals something pretty interesting about the Dems though, which is that you have a normal all-American beautiful girl doing like a normal jeans ad. They’re trying to sell jeans to kids in America and they have managed to so unhinge themselves over this thing. And it’s like, did you learn nothing from the November 2024 election?”
“I actually thought that one of the lessons they might take is ‘we’re going to be less crazy.’,” added Vance. “And the lesson they have apparently taken is we’re going to attack people as Nazis for thinking Sydney Sweeney is beautiful. Great strategy, guys! That’s how you’re going to win the midterms! Especially [with] young American men. So much of the Democrats is oriented around hostility to basic American life. So you have a pretty girl doing a jeans ad and they can’t help but freak out. It reveals a lot more about them than it does us.”
Still, the backlash continues… Even those who dismiss the take that the ads promote eugenics are still feeling uncomfortable with the campaign being used to raise awareness for domestic violence.
The term “tone deaf” has been doing the rounds.
Sydney Sweeney has yet to address the controversy – something which some of her fans find troubling.
Not helping things is the fact that Sweeney’s Republican voter registration has been revealed.
A viral post on X claimed that the actress was a registered member of the party, something subsequently confirmed by several news outlets, including the Guardian.
Indeed, the actress is registered as a Republican voter in Florida. She registered to vote on 14 June 2024 – weeks after Donald Trump was convicted in New York City of criminal falsification of business records and a few months before he won a second US presidency.
This has galvanised those who were already slamming Sweeney in 2022 for posting a series of photos from her mother’s surprise birthday party, in which guests wore MAGA hats.
Faced with growing criticism, Sweeney issued a statement on social media at the time, pleading with the public to “stop making assumptions”.
“An innocent celebration… has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention,” added Sweeney.
Regardless (or most likely because of) the Sweeney campaign controversy, the market value of AEO has increased by $400 million since the 23 July launch.
