Clothing brand American Eagle has sparked outrage over its latest ad featuring Sydney Sweeney, with many slamming it for having racist undertones.
At issue is its tagline, "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans."
In the advertisement, the actor wears a full denim outfit while standing next to a billboard that reads, "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Genes."
She then crosses out "genes" and replaces it with "jeans," drawing attention to the brand's focus on denim.
While seemingly innocent enough, the phrase "great genes" has often been associated with ideals of whiteness, slimness, and conventional beauty, making the campaign appear tone-deaf to many. The backlash that ensued was swift, with critics taking to social media to air their distaste.
"Maybe I'm too [expletive] woke," wrote one X user, "But getting a blue eyed, blonde, white women and focusing your campaign around her having perfect genetics. Feels weird, especially considering the current state of America."
Another X user slammed the ad for "promoting eugenics with the state of this country," writing, "NO I don't want your genes actually."
"Genes are passed down from parent to offspring, often determining traits like eye color, personality, and even hair color ..." a third added. "So Sydney (& American Eagle) somehow expect audiences to not interpret this visual as a euphemism for eugenics and white supremacy."
Commenting directly on the ad on Instagram, one user wrote: "This is what happens when you have no ppl of color in a room. Particularly in a time like this. This ad campaign got so caught up in this 'clever' play on words and this stunt the ppl in the room missed what was so blatantly obvious to anyone not White."
"It's giving Subtle 1930's Germany," another added.
Despite the backlash, American Eagle's stock jumped by as much as 16%. Analysts said the spike was likely due to meme stock behavior, with online traders on sites like Reddit and Stocktwits driving the surge, not the company's actual performance, according to Salon.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.