By Makayla Flenoury
American Eagle started a controversial ad war when they released their “Sydney Sweeney has great genes” campaign.
I’m sorry, “jeans.”
American Eagle is attempting to capitalize on sexualizing Sydney Sweeney and the Republican agenda of white supremacy.
Many people have said that liberals are overacting and being too woke, but with the state of the world right now, the American Eagle ad contributes to the fire.
Trump actively works hard to get rid of any diversity efforts and his administration targets immigrants.
So why create an ad campaign that supports Trump’s agenda?
American Eagle knew exactly what they were doing and even gained Trump’s support.
In the most sexualized ad, Sydney Sweeney says, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”
Why did American Eagle’s mention genes, especially if the goal of the ad was to bring awareness to domestic violence?
You-Know-Who thought blonde hair and blue eyes were superior and racially pure.
Think about it — this is blatantly intended to promote eugenics.
American Eagle chopped it down to clever wordplay. In defense of the ad, they said, “(it) is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
Sydney Sweeney is a famous white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. As far as I’m concerned, there is no story being told in the American Eagle ad — other than the story of eugenics.
Then, there is the issue that the hypersexual nature of the ads is fueling a problem that’s already so deep in society: the original message of the ad was to bring awareness to domestic violence.
The message conveyed wasn’t even in the same universe; instead, the advertisement objectified women.
The only inkling of domestic violence awareness is the butterfly on the limited-edition Sydney Jean. Butterflies are used as a motif for domestic violence survivors.
To further prove my point, American Eagle seems to be playing on the Calvin Klein ad campaign from the 1980s that featured 15-year-old Brooke Shields.
The Calvin Klein ad talked about genetics, evolution and selective mating with euphemisms of racism and eugenics while sexualizing a minor.
Sydney Sweeney is not a minor, so why take inspiration from an ad that starred one? The emphasis on genetics and objectification of women in both ads proves that American Eagle wanted to promote eugenics.
Who was American Eagle’s target audience? According to the American Eagle Outfitters Review, their article Decoding the American Eagle Customer Demographic shows that American Eagle targets 15- to 25-year-old women.
Sexualizing Sydney Sweeney is not for women. If anything, the ad can easily create insecurity in young women.
Other brands used the controversy to promote their own ads.
Old Navy created a post in response to American Eagle. Their ad featured a woman of color with the caption “These are the jeans your other jeans warned you about. All the washes, all the sizes, every style, fit to flaunt.”
Old Navy used the play on “gene” and “jean” to show they accept all genes. Sorry, jeans.
Old Navy did a pretty good job of using American Eagle’s uproar to bring the audience to them, but GAP does it better.
GAP collaborates with Katsey=e, a pop group of six women who are all of different origins.
Sophia is from the Philippines, Yoonche is from South Korea, and Manon is from Switzerland with Ghanaian and Swiss-Italian roots. Three of the members are from America; however, Daniela is Cuban-Venezuelan, Lara is Indian-American, and Megan is Chinese-Singaporean.
They created a marketing dream by letting Katseye do what they do best: perform.
GAP created an ad music video using the song “Milkshake” by Kelis. Doing the ad this way allows people to feel entertained rather than being sold something. The choreography shows the functionality of the jeans and allows people to recreate the dance on different social media platforms like TikTok.
GAP’s ad is skyrocketing in attention.
To further prove my point, the majority of the background dancers are dressed in black and brown denim.
The GAP ad is a complete turn away from the intended push of white supremacy in the American Eagle ad.
GAP chose the song “Milkshake” to add another layer to the ad. The song is a play on the sexualization of Sydney Sweeney; it’s no secret what she gets oversexualized for.
GAP shows that ads don’t need to be hypersexualized to sell.
In conclusion, American Eagle had every option to make an ad that emphasized a different message, like domestic violence.
But American Eagle chose to push eugenics. The fact that Old Navy and GAP capitalized on American Eagle shows that minorities still have the power and support to push back.
In this case, brands using other brand’s failures to capitalize on their sales isn’t unethical — it’s standing up against prejudice.