Sydney Sweeney Is Facing A Backlash Over Her New American Eagle Campaign. Here's What People Are Saying

Sydney Sweeney in her new ad campaign for American EagleSydney Sweeney’s new collaboration with the fashion brand American Eagle has become the centre of a whole lot of debate.The Euphoria star unveiled a new campaign with the American clothing brand last week, to promote their line of denim last week.However, it didn’t take long before social media clips to promote the deal sparked a wave of discomfort among many critics, largely due to some of the language that’s used in the campaign.This is the story so far…What is Sydney Sweeney’s new ad campaign for American Eagle all about?For American Eagle’s autumn 2025 campaign, Sydney Sweeney can be seen sporting items from the brand’s denim range, including a new pair of jeans inspired by her.The campaign also makes use of the slogan “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”, a pun on the term “great genes”.In another, she explains: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour.”“My jeans are blue,” she then quips, at which point a narrator delivers the line: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”Why are some people upset about Sydney Sweeney’s new ads for American Eagle?Unfortunately this repeated use of the slogan “great jeans”, a pun on “great genes”, has put some viewers in mind of the language used by white supremacists and eugenicists.By centring a blonde, white star in a campaign referencing “genes”, some critics are accusing the brand of tone-deafness at best – particularly in the current political climate – and deliberately pushing a white supremacist agenda at worst.So a company named American eagle doing an ad campaign with a blonde hair blue eye woman saying she “has good genes” isn’t weird to anyone else— Julie J (@julieeejackson) July 27, 2025A brand called American Eagle, using a blue eyed blonde white woman to promote jeans while talking about genes, specifically her “good genes” is so incredibly on the nose like this is a clear sign of the times… https://t.co/DLJweedWec— Rhea (@unrh3al) July 26, 2025Why would the marketing team approve this ad?Sure, you could argue that American Eagle @AEO was just copying the old Calvin Klein ads with Brooke Shields and didn’t mean to reference eugenics, but you’d be wrong.Sydney Sweeney literally talks about “genes” being passed down… pic.twitter.com/vcqJBRd3mB— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) July 28, 2025✨Re: Sydney Sweeney“Genes are passed down from parent to offspring, often determining traits like eye color, personality, and even hair color…”So Sydney (& American Eagle) somehow expect audiences to not interpret this visual as a euphemism for eugenics and white supremacy? https://t.co/yG5BFm9PDjpic.twitter.com/QXObl7A2PK— My Fairy Godfather (@MFG_iWPJ) July 26, 2025Did they mean to include a bunch of Nazi dog whistles in this https://t.co/dpWECqu8DV— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) July 26, 2025The fucking Sydney Sweeney American Eagle jeans ad (eugenics ad) high key just goes to show why diversity in the workplace is so important bc ts probably passed through MANY people for approval before launching and no one was like 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 hmmm maybe this is a weird message……— kathy (@kathytra_n) July 28, 2025I shouldn’t be surprised a brand like ‘American Eagle’ soft launching being republican yet here I am https://t.co/AwezLV5yz0— Almie (@AlmieetUThere) July 26, 2025that american eagle sydney sweeney campaign would not suck if they added other people to go with the "I've got good genes/jeans" play on words instead of just a white blonde blue eyed woman— ♪ Drew ♪ 🐎⛓️💥 (@BloodInBayouNwa) July 25, 2025I’m sorry that American eagle ad where they’ve got that blonde blue eyed woman talking about how good “jeans” are passed down from your family and how hers are “blue” when she looks at the camera is such a blatant dog whistle that it can hardly be considered a dog whistle anymore— skye (@CH0S0SGF) July 27, 2025Thought ppl were joking about eugenics in American eagle ad until I turned the sound on. wtf pic.twitter.com/exENYDUVj2— Lisa Fevral🌙🌹 (@LisaFevral) July 27, 2025american eagle needs to delete those sydney sweeney ads. they are genuinely scary.— bambi ✿ chelandria defender (@bambied_) July 25, 2025Doing a less than subtle denim ad about blonde hair and blue eyes being good genes or whatever in the current political climate is wild but doing one for American Eagle is especially wild. That's a career gamble you save for Calvin Klein or at least Levi's, not shitty mall denim— GL (@gldivittorio) July 26, 2025HuffPost UK has contacted representatives for both Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle for comment.Others are pointing out that Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign doesn’t mention one other important aspect of the productAmerican Eagle’s new “Sydney Jean” features a butterfly detail on its back pocket, in a nod to domestic violence awareness, a cause which the White Lotus star has championed throughout her career.In fact, an American Eagle press release confirmed that “100% of the purchase price from ‘The Sydney Jean’ will be donated to Crisis Text Line”, a charity in the US which aims to help those affected by domestic violence.However, the ads are also being criticised for not highlighting this key part of the campaign, with some saying its accompanying slogan is even more jarring as a result.that sydney american eagle ad was supposed to be about raising awareness for domestic violence and that's the approach they chose pic.twitter.com/zMCovzqeTk— tovey ★ (@toveydovey) July 25, 2025If you watched those Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ads you’d never know they were fundraising for a domestic violence charity— shreya (@shreyabasu003) July 26, 2025apparently the weird fashy american eagle sydney sweeney good jeans/genes campaign is donating some proceeds from jean sales to a charity for domestic violence survivors which is nice but also WHY DIDN’T YOU LEAD WITH THAT. JUST SAY THAT INSTEAD OF MAKING IT A DOGWHISTLE GOOD GOD— audrey | MEETING MAE WHITMAN SOON (@babyschockett) July 27, 2025by far the weirdest thing about the sydney sweeney eugenics ad is that it's supposed to be about domestic violence awareness— Maia (@maiamindel) July 28, 2025already thought the sydney sweeney ad was Not Good but im now just finding out it was for supporting a domestic violence charity... right right— revolutionary girl (@theerosebride) July 26, 2025any company that is purposefuly trying to attract #that type of audience was automatically on my hitlist but its even more egregious bc you know that audience dgaf about no domestic violence— revolutionary girl (@theerosebride) July 26, 2025who in american eagle thought that the perfect ad campaign for jeans that will support a domestic violence charity would be conventionally attractive blonde white girl genetics pun— dollhousebutcher (@fabiola_liano) July 25, 2025Has Sydney Sweeney or American Eagle said anything about the controversy?Not yet, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated if and when they do…READ MORE:Glen Powell's Ex Makes Veiled Comments About How Sydney Sweeney Rumours Affected RelationshipSydney Sweeney Fires Back After Producer's Takedown Of Her Looks And TalentSydney Sweeney Makes Blunt Comment On Women's Empowerment In Hollywood

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