American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney face backlash with employee’s LinkedIn post adding fuel to the fire
The latest American Eagle advert featuring Sydney Sweeney is stirring up conversation over race, eugenics, and beauty standards due to its curious tagline: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
The campaign sees the Euphoria star seemingly use jeans and genes interchangeably. The specific ad causing the most controversy has since been removed from the brand’s Instagram page. It featured Sweeney lounging in her denim, with a raspy voiceover, saying: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality, and even eye colour,” she says. “My jeans are blue,” as the camera pans to her, staring straight into the camera lens.
@screenshothq @SYD “has great jeans,” at least that’s what @American Eagle ‘s new ad says. But the internet’s not laughing. What was meant to be a cheeky pun is now being dragged for allegedly playing on eugenics-era language, with many calling it r@c!st and tone-deaf. What’s your take, was it just a bad pun or something deeper? Click the 🔗 in bio to read the latest updates on this story #sydneysweeney #americaneagle #americaneaglejeans #euphoria #sydneysweeneyedit
♬ original sound - SCREENSHOT
One ad that does remain public, though, is a video of Sweeney literally painting over the word ‘genes’ on a billboard and writing ‘jeans.’
View this post on Instagram
It is this phrasing that many are finding controversial. Salon explains how the phrase ‘great genes’ has been “historically used to celebrate whiteness, thinness and attractiveness. This makes this campaign seem to be a tone-deaf marketing move.”
Does Sydney Sweeney have ‘great jeans’ or is it fascism?
Audiences have also made ties between the advert and fascism, eugenics and white supremacy in a time of Trump’s America. One user even said on X how there is “something about an ad sexualising a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes while commenting that she has great ‘jeans’ [that] feels extremely conservative, especially in this political climate.”
Under American Eagle’s post on Instagram, users are asking, “Who on your marketing team said this was a good idea?” with others saying: “Please hire a new marketing team.”
Singer Doja Cat mocked the ad on TikTok, writing in the caption: “My jeans are blee.”
@screenshothq @Doja Cat has posted a TikTok of her reading @SYD’s dialogue from the recent controversial American Eagle ad about how “genes are passed down from parent to offspring,” but with her own southern spin on it. She captioned it: “my jeans are blee.” In the comments, one person wrote: “u know its bad when even doja makes fun of it 😭,” Click the 🔗 in bio to read the latest updates on this story #dojacat #sydneysweeney #americaneaglead #euphoria #sydneysweeneyedit
♬ original sound - SCREENSHOT
American Eagle ad is ‘genuinely scary’
Taking to TikTok, user @payalforstyle said in a video: “This American Eagle ad with Sydney Sweeney is especially off-putting. For me, I can’t help but think of the 13-year-old brown girl who gets all her denim at American Eagle, who already struggles to see her beauty and worth in a world that continues to value white, Euro-centric beauty standards… And this girl is now wishing she too can wake up with blonde hair and blue eyes.”
@payalforstyle The internet seems divided on this - my thoughts for what it’s worth #sydneysweeney #americaneagle #fyp
♬ original sound - Payal
View this post on Instagram
One user on X said how “American Eagle needs to delete those Sydney Sweeney ads. They are genuinely scary.”
american eagle needs to delete those sydney sweeney ads. they are genuinely scary.
— bambi ✿ chelandria defender (@bambied_) July 25, 2025
Another commented on X: “I like Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle as much as the next guy, but ‘we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children’ is a crazy tagline for selling jeans.”
i like Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle as much as the next guy but “we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children” is a crazy tagline for selling jeans
— Maybe: goated (@wimdawgg) July 26, 2025
Some say Sydney Sweeney advert is a ‘leftist meltdown’
While the advert has caused a stir, some users are coming out in defence of it. Megyn Kelly wrote on X: “I love how the leftist meltdown over the Sydney Sweeney ad has only resulted in a beautiful white blonde girl with blue eyes getting 1000x the exposure for her ‘good genes.’”
And one user on TikTok says she “doesn’t see” why it is controversial, “it is just an ad for jeans.” Others have commented under American Eagle’s Instagram posts to “Make America Hot Again,” and one user said: “I just see some jeans, a cute dog, and a pretty lady.”
American Eagle ad was meant to raise awareness for domestic violence
@screenshothq @SYD has been criticised over a “sexualised” jeans advert raising awareness about domestic v!olenc3. According to American Eagle, the purchase price of the jeans will be donated to Crisis Text Line, a charity offering confidential mental health services. The trousers also feature a “butterfly motif on the back pocket of [which] represents domestic v!0lence awareness,” American Eagle’s press release stated, according to The Independent. Some critics have also suggested her advert pays homage to Brooke Shields’ controversial Calvin Klein adverts from the 1980s, which also plays on the genes/jeans pun. Click the 🔗 in bio to read the latest updates on this story #sydneysweeney #americaneagle #sydneysweeneyad
♬ Ride At Dawn - Above & Beyond & Zoë Johnston
A fact that is somewhat lost in this discussion is that the campaign was intended to raise awareness of domestic violence. On American Eagle’s website, the brand explains: “A butterfly motif on the back pocket of the jeans represents domestic violence awareness, which Sydney is passionate about.”
But, as one user on X said: “If you watched those Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ads, you’d never know they were fundraising for a domestic violence charity.” It is difficult to hear the intended message among the noise the ad has caused.
While the age-old marketing term goes, “any press is good press,” I’m not so sure it relates to this one. Does Sydney Sweeney just have “great jeans,” or is American Eagle’s latest campaign simply a terrible, unthought-through idea?
American Eagle responds to Sydney Sweeney ad backlash
Sydney Sweeney’s latest campaign led to a quiet response by American Eagle. Ashley Schapiro, American Eagle’s vice president of marketing, shared in a LinkedIn post that Sweeney had been fully engaged in shaping the concept. When asked how far to take it, Sweeney replied, “Let’s push it, I’m game.”
Following backlash, the company disabled comments on Schapiro’s post and swapped out some visuals with alternative imagery, including a woman of colour on its latest Instagram post. However, the original ad and its core messaging remained unchanged, and no formal public statement was issued.
And yet, despite the insane controversy, the campaign proved commercially successful. The limited-edition Sydney Jean sold out quickly, and American Eagle’s stock rose between 10-18% in the days after launch.
