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American Eagle is just not right here to apologize.
On August 1, the corporate issued an announcement in response to the most well liked story on the Internet:
Sydney Sweeney posing in its denims and presumably making a reference to a set of Nazi beliefs within the course of.
On Friday, the model wrote in a graphic:
Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans is and at all times was in regards to the denims. Her denims. Her story. We’ll proceed to have a good time how everybody wears their AE denims with confidence, their means. Great 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… resulting from what some perceived as its not-so-hidden messaging.
The marketing campaign options the beautiful 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 consists of super-baggy light-wash denims with a white tee after which an analogous pair however distressed, worn with a white tank.
Sweeney appears plain beautiful.
But it’s not her look in these commercial that has gotten individuals buzzing. And criticizing.
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 seek out it, however a bunch of critics have claimed that utilizing the phrase “jeans” as a play on “genes” hints at eugenics.
And, in line with the National Institute of Health (NIH), eugenics “is broadly defined as the use of selective breeding to improve the human race.”
Eugenics was a racially biased examine that was adopted with the Nazi celebration and is related to white supremacy.
In one other marketing campaign video, Sweeney recreates Brooke Shields’ controversial Eighties Calvin Klein advert whereas pulling her pants up her legs.
In 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 have 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.”
Another remarked: “American Eagle needs to delete those Sydney Sweeney ads. They are genuinely scary.”
Despite the controversy (or maybe as a result of of it?), American Eagle’s inventory elevated 10 p.c in only a few days, including greater than $200 million to the group’s worth.
Sweeney has not but commented on the supposed scandal, however beforehand instructed People Magazine that American Eagle represents “the comfiest jeans I’ve ever worn.”