Sydney Sweeney has rapidly emerged as America’s quintessential sweetheart, captivating audiences with her striking appearance, camera-ready smile, and outspoken nature. The 27-year-old actress embodies traditional American beauty standards with her blonde hair, blue eyes, and confident demeanor.
The actress has strategically leveraged her rising fame through both her acclaimed acting performances and innovative marketing tactics, including selling soap products containing her actual bathwater. This growing influence has attracted major brands, including American Eagle, an established clothing and accessories retailer operating since 1977, which recently featured her in a new campaign.
The advertisement shows Sweeney successfully completing car repairs before the camera follows her as she runs her hands along her jeans and proceeds to enter the vehicle and drive away. The advertisement’s tagline reads simply: “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.”
The brand also released an Instagram video featuring Sweeney approaching one of their billboards and painting over it, specifically crossing out the word ‘genes’ and replacing it with ‘jeans’.
The campaign’s messaging carries multiple interpretations beyond just promoting denim, including implications about “American” genetic superiority. While the company’s stock value increased by 4% following the campaign’s Thursday release, the brand has experienced significant social media criticism.
Numerous users have taken to social platforms to criticize the advertisement’s messaging, with many labeling it as promoting ‘Nazi Fascist’ ideology. The reasoning behind these reactions is explained below.
According to Salon‘s reporting, the phrase “Great Genes” has historically been employed to celebrate whiteness, thinness, and conventional beauty standards. Even for those unfamiliar with this historical context, the advertisement’s message has been widely perceived as problematic.
A viral TikTok video features a woman stating, “Should we be surprised that a brand name is literally American Eagle is making fascist propaganda like this? Probably not, but it’s still really shocking like a blonde-haired blue-eyed white woman is talking about her good genes, like that is Nazi propaganda.”
Many X users expressed similar concerns, with posts stating, “The Sydney Sweeney American Eagle jeans ad is NAZI propaganda, and you’re a fascist if you don’t agree,” and “They could’ve easily gotten a beautiful black woman to do this ad but they got a yt woman to do it instead…”
Some users called for the campaign’s removal, stating, “American Eagle needs to delete those Sydney Sweeney ads. They are genuinely scary.”
Neither Sweeney nor American Eagle has issued any response to the campaign’s backlash at this time.
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