Move over, Kendall Jenner, there’s a new tone-deaf ad starlet in town.
“Euphoria” star Sydney Sweeney, known for her curvy figure and blonde locks, popped out as the face of American Eagle’s newest campaign this week and some viewers are sounding the alarm, calling the ad blitz a dog whistle for eugenics.
It wasn’t so much the denim itself that offended, as it was the language Sweeney (and no doubt the marketing minds at AE) were using to hawk it.
In one of several videos for the campaign, Sweeney, clad in a denim-on-denim fit, dabbles in some word-play, telling cameras: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color.”
The internet has a wild obsession with Sydney Sweeney’s body. So she got in on the joke.
“My jeans are blue,” she continued, with jeans doing double duty as the camera panned both across her true blue denim fit and her blue eyes.
With the lens lingering intimately on her figure, and the apparent sensual tone throughout the campaign, consumers were quick to point out what they saw as the regressive nature of the material. A blonde bombshell catering to the male gaze, they argued, was a quintessential symbol of a bygone era.
“How far back do you plan on going? Do you still wanna vote?” one commenter asked, while another chided: “You accept these jobs that objectify your body. Fight the patriarchy, don’t join it.”
Sydney Sweeney, an American Eagle ad campaign and why it sparked backlash
Even more concerning, critics argued, was the use of Sweeney as the archetype of “good genes.” A conventionally attractive, white, thin, blonde woman with blue eyes being held up not just as the beauty ideal but as the pinnacle of good breeding bordered on eugenic thinking, they asserted, and contributed to the glorification of whiteness.
Defined generally as the use of selective breeding to “improve” the human race through emphasis on desirable traits, the pseudoscience of eugenics has a dark backstory, used in the past as a vehicle for racial violence and sterilization. Lifting Sweeney’s genes up as “good,” critics said, notches into a painful and dangerous history, and tightens the bind whiteness has on the beauty ideal.
USA TODAY has reached out to Sweeney’s rep and American Eagle for comment.
That the controversy stems from a denim ad, and one from a company with “American” in the name, further complicates the reception. Americana and denim go hand in hand, the stiff fabric harkening back to cowboy culture, workmen’s uniforms and other mythologized aspects of the national identity.
If denim ad copy is aimed at reflecting America back to itself, some were certainly horrified by their reflection.
Pepsi, another quintessential symbol of the American way, fell into a similar trap in 2017, when they employed Jenner to recreate an iconic civil rights photograph by adding an officer a soft drink during a protest. Viewers were quick to lambast the ad, arguing it glazed over the violent history between law enforcement and the Black community in the U.S. and seemed to imply that soda could solve civil unrest.
Doja Cat joins internet mockery of Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle jeans ad
As debate continues to rage over when a woman’s sexuality is her own, how it can be ethically employed, and where the marketing budget comes in, Sweeney’s ad did not stick the landing with viewers.
Across the internet, parody videos began popping up, poking fun at Sweeney and the content of the campaign.
Musician Doja Cat even joined in, mocking the “good genes” monologue that sparked the original controversy with a hyperbolically “country” accent.
Sydney Sweeney ‘good jeans’ ad to support domestic violence awareness
Adding yet another layer to the ad campaign’s messaging, American Eagle announced that Sweeney’s custom denim cut would help to raise money for domestic violence awareness and prevention.
“The Sydney Jean,” a limited-edition style made in collaboration with the actress, features an embroidered butterfly motif on the back pocket, representing domestic violence awareness, which Sweeney is passionate about, AE’s campaign materials say.
In support of the cause, 100% of the purchase price from the jeans will be donated to Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit offering free, 24/7, confidential mental health support to anyone in need.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle good jeans ad embroiled in controversy
