American Eagle has finally broken its silence on the controversy surrounding the Sydney Sweeney ad campaign that was decried as promoting eugenics in the vein of “Nazi propaganda.”
In a statement posted on the retailer’s Instagram account Friday, American Eagle said the campaign “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.”
The brand emphasized its point Saturday morning with a snap of two pairs of jeans hanging over each other, doubling down that “it’s all about the jeans.”
The statements marked the first time American Eagle responded to the backlash since its “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” campaign was launched last week.
In videos from the campaign, the 27-year-old bombshell buttons up her denim as she tells viewers that genes — or jeans — are “passed down from parents to offspring, determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color.”
“My jeans are blue,” she says.
The ad sparked a debate on race and Western beauty standards, with much of the criticism centered on the use of the word “genes” instead of “jeans” alongside the white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Sweeney.
Much of the internet assumed the nefarious. Rather than using the headline-generating “Euphoria” star to move merchandise — much like she recently did with her own used bath water — American Eagle was accused of trying a “Nazi dog whistle,” rather than denim, on for size.
Some claimed the brand was promoting the discredited theory of eugenics, which was embraced by Nazi Germany it to carry out Adolf Hitler’s plan for an Aryan master race.
Others fought back against the controversy, saying critics were reading too much into the campaign’s message.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz earlier this week slammed “the crazy left” for what he dubbed its own alleged campaign “against beautiful women.”
With News Wire Services
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