On X, support for American Eagle ads with Sydney Sweeney’s ‘good jeans’ overwhelms criticism
“Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” an American Eagle ad announced, prompting a culture war on whether its newest advertising campaign centers on cheeky wordplay or something more sinister.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,” actress Sweeney, decked in denim, said in one video version of the ad, released July 23. “My jeans are blue.”
On one side, people saw dog whistles in the script. “Jeans” is a homonym for “genes,” leading people to believe it had eugenicist tones.
“A blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white woman is talking about her good genes. Like, that is Nazi propaganda,” one TikTok user said.
On the other side, people said it’s just a pun.
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