In the past few days, you’ve probably seen a lot of conversation online about Sydney Sweeney’s new American Eagle adverts. But if you need to catch up, then here’s a quick explanation.
Sydney is the face of American Eagle’s latest denim ad campaign, which centers around the tagline: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” as a play on “great genes.” There are a ton of pictures and clips you can still find on AE’s socials, but I’ll tell you about the ones getting the most backlash...
So, in one clip, the camera zooms in on Sydney’s chest. She says, “My body’s composition is determined by my genes,” before playfully reminding the camera that her eyes are “up here.” In another video, the camera tracks Sydney’s body as she lies on the ground with her shirt unbuttoned, pulling her jeans on. “Genes are passed down from parent to offspring, often determining traits like eye color, personality, and even hair color,” she says, before looking to the camera and adding, “My jeans are blue.”
These two videos now appear to have been removed from AE’s socials after they were met with a lot of criticism for a number of different reasons. Many took issue with the hypersexualized nature of the ads, while others called out the way the clip of her pulling her jeans on seemingly pays homage to an extremely controversial 1980 Calvin Klein ad starring a then-15-year-old Brooke Shields.
On top of that, there’s been a whole lot of backlash to all the emphasis on Sydney’s “great genes” as a blonde, blue-eyed, white woman. For context, phrases like “good genes” and “great genes” have historically been used in the language of eugenicists, who believe that the genetic quality of the human population could be improved by selective breeding.
I don’t know about you, but my TikTok is filled with people impersonating Sydney’s cursive voice. And now, Doja Cat has joined in on the trend.
