Studying Time: 3 minutes
American Eagle just isn’t right here to apologize.
On August 1, the corporate issued an announcement in response to the most well liked story on the Web:
Sydney Sweeney posing in its denims and presumably making a reference to a set of Nazi beliefs within the course of.
Sydney Sweeney attends the “Echo Valley” European Premiere on the BFI Southbank on June 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photograph by Andreas Rentz/Getty Photos)
On Friday, the model wrote in a graphic:
Sydney Sweeney Has Nice Denims is and all the time was in regards to the denims. Her denims. Her story. We’ll proceed to have fun how everybody wears their AE denims with confidence, their approach. Nice denims look good on everybody.
For these very late to this viral celebration, Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle marketing campaign initially sparked a social media firestorm days after it launched… as a consequence of what some perceived as its not-so-hidden messaging.
(Instagram)
The marketing campaign options the attractive actress in fall-centric denim, pulled collectively by her stylist Molly Dickson.
One look depicts the sultry star in a contemporary Canadian tuxedo with daring blue denims and an identical jacket… whereas one other contains super-baggy light-wash denims with a white tee after which an analogous pair however distressed, worn with a white tank.
Sweeney seems plain attractive.
However it’s not her look in these commercial that has gotten folks buzzing. And criticizing.
Sydney Sweeney attends the thirty fifth annual GLAAD Media Awards at The Beverly Hilton on March 14, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photograph by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Photos)
In one of many marketing campaign movies, Sweeney is seen zipping up her denims whereas mendacity down.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,” she says because the digicam pans to her face. “My jeans are blue.”
Then, a narrator in voiceover intones: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
You need to look VERY carefully to search out it, however a bunch of critics have claimed that utilizing the phrase “jeans” as a play on “genes” hints at eugenics.
And, based on the Nationwide Institute of Well being (NIH), eugenics “is broadly defined as the use of selective breeding to improve the human race.”
Eugenics was a racially biased research that was adopted with the Nazi celebration and is related to white supremacy.
Sydney Sweeney attends the 2024 Individuals’s Selection Awards at Barker Hangar on February 18, 2024 in Santa Monica, California. (Photograph by Monica Schipper/Getty Photos)
In one other marketing campaign video, Sweeney recreates Brooke Shields’ controversial Nineteen Eighties Calvin Klein advert whereas pulling her pants up her legs.
Within the footage, she relayed a message about how “the secret of life lies in the genetic code,” a nod to Shields’ line, “Genes are fundamental in determining the characteristics of an individual and passing on these characteristics to succeeding generations.”
Many social media had been unafraid shared their ideas on the assertion, writing for instance:
“Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle promoting eugenics and pushing the aryan race Nazi propaganda was not in my 2025 bingo card.”
One other remarked: “American Eagle needs to delete those Sydney Sweeney ads. They are genuinely scary.”
Regardless of the controversy (or maybe due to it?), American Eagle’s inventory elevated 10 p.c in just some days, including greater than $200 million to the group’s worth.
Sweeney has not but commented on the supposed scandal, however beforehand advised Individuals Journal that American Eagle represents “the comfiest jeans I’ve ever worn.”
