Some things just can’t stay buttoned up.
American Eagle has responded to critics after the brand’s new denim campaign with Sydney Sweeney caused major controversy.
“‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans,” the company said Friday in a statement obtained by The Post. “Her jeans. Her story.”
“We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,” the statement continued. “Great jeans look good on everyone.”
Sweeney, 27, and American Eagle faced backlash earlier this week after the blonde-haired, blue-eyed “White Lotus” starlet appeared in a new denim ad for the popular clothing and accessories retailer.
“I have great jeans… now you can too,” the “Euphoria” actress wrote on Instagram on July 23, alongside a video for the controversial campaign.
But the tagline, which was seemingly a pun on the word “genes,” had some social media users comparing the marketing move to “Nazi propaganda.”
“I thought it was gonna be, like, kinda bad, but wow,” one critic wrote on TikTok. “That’s gonna be in history books!”
“I will be the friend that’s too woke, but those Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ads are weird,” another added. “Like, fascist weird. Like Nazi propaganda weird.”
“Like, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white woman is talking about her good genes. That is Nazi Propaganda,” a third person commented, while a fourth responded, “Saying that a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl has ‘good genes’ is Nazi s–t.”
Singers Lizzo, 37, and Doja Cat, 29, also took to social media to ridicule Sweeney and American Eagle over the controversy.
“My jeans are black…” the “Truth Hurts” singer wrote alongside a digitally altered picture showing herself in the denim shirt and jeans that Sweeney wore for the American Eagle photo shoot.
Doja Cat shared a TikTok video of herself repeating Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign monologue with an exaggerated accent.
However, others came to the “Anyone But You” star’s defense and agreed that American Eagle’s new denim campaign was nothing beyond a clever play on words.
“I’m confused, why are people outraged by this?” one fan wrote on Instagram. “She looks stunning!”
“You have absolutely nothing to apologize for,” someone else commented, while a third wrote, “If you want to hate on this ad campaign, please go touch grass!”
Still, American Eagle appeared to distance itself from the “Nazi propaganda” backlash by sharing other ads from the campaign that did not feature Sweeney.
“Denim on denim on denim… on denim,” the company wrote alongside the new ad on July 27. “AE has great jeans.”
Plus, American Eagle’s stock rose more than 10% immediately after the new campaign kicked off on July 23.
Sweeney herself has yet to respond to the backlash and controversy caused by her “Great Jeans” ad campaign.
