{"id":32620,"date":"2025-07-31T01:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T01:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=32620"},"modified":"2025-07-31T01:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T01:11:11","slug":"sydney-sweeneys-controversial-american-eagle-ad-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=32620","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Sweeney&#8217;s Controversial American Eagle Ad Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"article__primary-video-container_1-0\" class=\"comp article__primary-video-container mntl-block\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<figure id=\"figure-article_1-0\" class=\"comp figure-article mntl-universal-primary-image right-rail__offset text-utility-100 figure-landscape primary-image\">\n<div class=\"primary-image__media\">\n<div class=\"img-placeholder\" style=\"padding-bottom: 75.0%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block; margin: 1em auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/-_OvRFYIR-Wrrhr-jhKNy5u8L78=\/1500x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)\/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-3-072225-85ea9da59f1e4a618df76b0fb7f1031a.jpg\" alt=\"Sydney Sweeney American Eagle\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div id=\"article-content_1-0\" class=\"comp article-content mntl-block\">\n<div id=\"mntl-sc-page_1-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-page mntl-block structured-content\" data-sc-sticky-offset=\"90\" data-sc-ad-label-height=\"24\" data-sc-ad-track-spacing=\"100\" data-sc-min-track-height=\"250\" data-sc-max-track-height=\"600\" data-sc-breakpoint=\"50em\" data-sc-load-immediate=\"4\" data-sc-content-positions=\"[1, 1250, 1550, 1950, 2350, 2750, 3150, 3550, 3950]\" data-bind-scroll-on-start=\"true\">\n<div id=\"mntl-sc-block_1-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block people-sc-block-callout mntl-sc-block-universal-callout theme-needtoknow\" data-tracking-id=\"mntl-sc-block-callout\" data-tracking-container=\"true\">\n<div class=\"mntl-sc-block-universal-callout__body\">\n<ul>\n<li>Sydney Sweeney&#8217;s American Eagle denim ad is sparking controversy online<\/li>\n<li>Some critics claim the campaign has problematic undertones<\/li>\n<li>The tagline for the campaign is &#8220;Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_2-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"><a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/person\/sydney-sweeney\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">Sydney Sweeney<\/a>&#8216;s new American Eagle campaign is sparking a heated online debate over its perceived messaging.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_4-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">The retailer and the 27-year-old actress are in the spotlight for their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/americaneagle\/videos\/1136711328284537\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">fall campaign titled &#8220;Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,&#8221;<\/a> which was released on Wednesday, July 23. Videos published to American Eagle&#8217;s social media channels feature the <em>Euphoria<\/em> star modeling various denim styles while working on a car, auditioning for a spot in the campaign and speaking straight to camera about the new collection.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_6-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">The tagline of the campaign, &#8220;Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,&#8221; has prompted critics to claim that the usage of the word &#8220;jeans&#8221; as a play on &#8220;genes&#8221; is racially charged and hints at genetic superiority. Others are slamming the campaign for catering to the male gaze and taking inspiration from Brooke Shields&#8217; controversial 1980 denim campaign.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_8-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Meanwhile, others feel the reaction to the campaign is overblown and unfounded.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_10-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Despite \u2014 or perhaps because of \u2014\u00a0the controversy, American Eagle&#8217;s stock increased 10 percent in just a few days, adding more than $200 million to the group\u2019s value, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/story\/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-jeans-controversy\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\"><em>Vanity Fair<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_12-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Here are all the details on Sweeney&#8217;s American Eagle campaign.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"mntl-sc-block_14-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block people-sc-block-image mntl-sc-block-image mntl-sc-block-image--no-theme no-theme figure-portrait figure-high-res\">\n<div class=\"figure-media\">\n<div class=\"img-placeholder\" style=\"padding-bottom: 133.3%;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_16-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">One video that appears to have been removed from some of American Eagle&#8217;s social media channels (it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/americaneagle\/videos\/1136711328284537\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">remains on the brand&#8217;s Facebook<\/a>) is sparking the most controversy. In it, Sweeney is seen zipping up her jeans while lying down.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_18-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">\u201cGenes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,&#8221; she says as the camera pans to her face. \u201cMy jeans are blue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_20-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Then, a narrator in voiceover says, \u201cSydney Sweeney has great jeans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_22-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Some critics claim the usage of the word &#8220;jeans&#8221; as a play on &#8220;genes&#8221; hints at eugenics. Per the <a href=\"https:\/\/irp.nih.gov\/catalyst\/29\/4\/unfit-to-breed-americas-dark-tale-of-eugenics\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">National Institute of Health<\/a> (NIH), eugenics &#8220;is broadly defined as the use of selective breeding to improve the human race.&#8221; It has been discredited as junk science.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_24-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">&#8220;The tagline is simply bizarre,&#8221; writes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/style\/2025\/07\/28\/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-ad\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\"><em>Washington Post<\/em> fashion critic Rachel Tashjian<\/a>. &#8220;Are they trying to say that what matters is not what you look like but what you put on your body? Or that you are assigned a denim style at birth and you must never waver from it? Also: Is Sweeney the every girl or the only girl?&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"mntl-sc-block_26-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block people-sc-block-featuredlink--people-app-promo mntl-block\">\n<div id=\"people-app-promo__left_1-0\" class=\"comp people-app-promo__left mntl-block\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"people-app-promo__text_1-0\" class=\"comp people-app-promo__text mntl-text-block\"><b>Our new app is here!<\/b> Free, fun and full of exclusives. Scan to download now!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_28-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Author, physician and scholar Sayantani DasGupta, who teaches a course on Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, took to TikTok to break down the controversy in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@sayantanidasguptabooks\/video\/7531833994975972621\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">video that now has close to 4M views<\/a>. She shares that she&#8217;ll be using the ad as a teaching moment in her classroom this semester as a tool to spark discussion about race and the current political climate.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_30-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">DasGupta claims the ad is &#8220;imbued with eugenic messaging.&#8221; She defines eugenics as &#8220;the pseudoscientific and immoral notion that we can improve the human race,&#8221; which typically &#8220;leans into as much racialized ideas of superiority as it does into ideas of ableism or cis heteronormativity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_32-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">The controversy, the scholar claims, lies in the fact that Sweeney is a white woman and that &#8220;a woman of color would not have been hired for this advertisement.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_34-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">DasGupta also mentions Sweeney&#8217;s recent collaboration with Dr. Squatch, which involved creating a <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/sydney-sweeney-and-dr-squatch-release-soap-made-from-her-bathwater-11744522\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">bar of soap made from her bathwater<\/a>. &#8220;Soap has historically been a very fraught, racialized product because of the ways that darker-skinned people are associated with race pollution&#8230; whereas whiteness is associated with cleanliness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"mntl-sc-block_36-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block people-sc-block-image mntl-sc-block-image mntl-sc-block-image--no-theme no-theme figure-portrait figure-high-res\">\n<div class=\"figure-media\">\n<div class=\"img-placeholder\" style=\"padding-bottom: 122.5%;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_38-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Sydney Sweeney&#8217;s American Eagle campaign is also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@harry_styles_fanpage\/video\/7532377797549985055?q=sydney%20sweeney%20campaign%20male%20gaze&amp;t=1753888839342\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">drawing comparisons<\/a> to Brooke Shields&#8217; controversial Calvin Klein ad from 1980. Shields&#8217; age (she was 15 at the time) ruffled feathers due to the commercial&#8217;s provocative tagline: &#8220;You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_40-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Shields&#8217; ad also featured similar messaging about passing down characteristics from generation to generation.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_42-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Culture advisor and strategist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@rachelissan\/video\/7532269418718448951?\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">Rachel Lowenstein<\/a> slams the American Eagle campaign for catering to the male gaze. She claims that brands are &#8220;reverting back to the oldest trick in the advertising playbook: sex sells.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"mntl-sc-block_44-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block people-sc-block-spotlight--mid-circ mntl-sc-block-spotlight--mid-circ mntl-block\">\n<div id=\"midcirc__card-list_1-0\" class=\"comp midcirc__card-list mntl-block\">\n<div id=\"midcirc-card__title_1-0\" class=\"comp midcirc-card__title mntl-text-block\">Sydney Sweeney Gives Up Her &#8216;Sweats Girl&#8217; Title to Model Her Fave Denim in Sexy New Campaign (Exclusive)<\/div>\n<div id=\"midcirc-card__image-wrapper_1-0\" class=\"comp midcirc-card__image-wrapper mntl-block\">\n<div class=\"img-placeholder\" style=\"padding-bottom: 66.6%;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"midcirc-card__title_2-0\" class=\"comp midcirc-card__title mntl-text-block\">Unrecognizable Sydney Sweeney Enters the Ring as Boxer Christy Martin in First Official Photo from New Biopic<\/div>\n<div id=\"midcirc-card__image-wrapper_2-0\" class=\"comp midcirc-card__image-wrapper mntl-block\">\n<div class=\"img-placeholder\" style=\"padding-bottom: 66.6%;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_47-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@pdspopculture\/video\/7532249578926624031\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">video<\/a> shared to TikTok, YouTube personality Philip DeFranco discussed the controversy around Sydney Sweeney&#8217;s American Eagle campaign. While he mentions the criticism regarding eugenics, many commenters claim the ad is being blown out of proportion.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_49-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">&#8220;It&#8217;s literally only a Sydney Sweeney is hot joke, nothing to get mad over,&#8221; one wrote.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_51-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">&#8220;Some people have too much time on their hands, its jeans commerical,&#8221; said another.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_53-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">A third wrote, &#8220;It\u2019s NOT that serious guys \ud83d\ude02&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_56-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">American Eagle has not issued an official statement in response to the controversy, but American Eagle&#8217;s vice president of marketing, Ashley Schapiro, spoke about the ad in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/aschapiro_aejeans-activity-7353934171766984704-G372\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">LinkedIn post<\/a> shared on July 23, the day it was unveiled.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_58-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">&#8220;During a Zoom call with Sydney we asked the question &#8216;How far do you want to push it?&#8217; &#8221; Schapiro&#8217;s post began.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Without hesitation, she smirked smirk \ud83d\ude0f and said, &#8216;Let\u2019s push it, I\u2019m game.&#8217; &#8220;<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_60-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">She went on to explain that the campaign was infused with &#8220;our own personal cheeky energy and &#8220;a desire to stretch beyond anything we had done before.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_62-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Schapiro also mentioned the controversial play on words, shouting out the &#8220;playful stunt double that revealed the genius behind &#8216;genes.&#8217; &#8220;<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_65-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">Sweeney has not made a formal statement in response to the controversy around the ad.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_67-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\">American Eagle and Sweeney have not responded to PEOPLE&#8217;s requests for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sydney Sweeney&#8217;s American Eagle denim ad is sparking controversy online Some critics claim the campaign has problematic undertones The tagline for the campaign is &#8220;Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans&#8221; Sydney &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32622,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32620\/revisions\/32622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}