A little over a tenth of Americans found Sydney Sweeney’s recent American Eagle ad campaign offensive, according to a new poll.
When asked in the Economist/YouGov poll about the ad campaign, 12 percent said they considered it offensive, while 39 percent called it clever. Forty percent said it was neither, and 8 percent were unsure.
The ad campaign featuring Sweeney sparked some backlash over what some have deemed racist undertones. A majority of the criticism has surrounded the campaign’s title: “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” riffing on “good genes.”
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,” Sweeney said in one video from the campaign. “My jeans are blue.”
But the campaign captured the attention of several high profile Republicans, including the president, who weighed in on the campaign, stating “woke is for losers.”
“Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there. It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’ Go get ‘em Sydney!” President Trump added in a Truth Social post.
The Pentagon also waded into the discourse around the ad campaign, posting a photo of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in jeans and saying he “has great jeans.”
Trump himself garnered 44 percent favorability in this week’s Economist/YouGov poll, with 52 percent of respondents saying they felt unfavorably about the president.
The Economist/YouGov poll took place from Aug. 9-11, with 1,635 respondents and a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
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