American Eagle has doubled down on its controversial fall campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney, after the tagline “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” triggered intense online backlash and accusations ranging from eugenics undertones to objectifying content.
The campaign, launched on July 23, features the Euphoria actress modeling several denim looks styled by Molly Dickson, including a matching jacket and jeans combo and oversized light-wash denim paired with white basics.
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But it wasn’t the styling that sparked controversy — it was the ad’s narration.
In one now-deleted clip from AE’s social channels, 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.” A narrator then adds: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
However, the wordplay between “jeans” and “genes” has been a lightning rod – as has the repeated slogan of “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
Critics have argued the phrasing — paired with Sweeney’s white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes — evokes ideas tied to eugenics, which the National Institute of Health defines as “the use of selective breeding to improve the human race”, per The Hollywood Reporter.
TikTok discourse and celebrity backlash
PEOPLE reports that Columbia University physician and scholar Sayantani DasGupta, who teaches Narrative Medicine, said she plans to use the ad as a teaching tool this semester. Her TikTok breakdown of the ad has racked up nearly 4 million views.
“It is one of the loudest and most obvious racialized dog whistles we’ve seen and heard in a while,” claimed one TikTok user in a viral post. Others criticized the ad for “catering to the male gaze” and likened it to Brooke Shields’ provocative Calvin Klein campaign from 1980.
On American Eagle’s official TikTok page, they have received an outpouring of negative comments, such as: “We will NEVER purchase from this company ever again.”
Another user wrote: “This will be an interesting case study. Can brand survive off eugenics loving audience alone?”
Fashion critic Rachel Tashjian questioned the campaign’s message in The Washington Post, writing: “The tagline is simply bizarre. Are they trying to say that what matters is not what you look like but what you put on your body? Or that you are assigned a denim style at birth and you must never waver from it?”
Meanwhile, a number of TikTok users dismissed the uproar as overblown. “Y’all are mad at Sydney Sweeney because she’s white, she’s blonde, she’s blue-eyed and she looks good. I am DEI’d out,” said LaKeisha Hebert in one video. Another commenter added: “The hate is exhausting.”
The brand has also been receiving more positive support on other social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook.
American Eagle responds
In a statement posted to Instagram on August 1, the brand made its stance clear: “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ 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.”
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Once again, the response was as divisive as the ad campaign, with one Instagram user writing: “Didn’t think the response could be even worse than the ad but it somehow was”.
However, many others praised the company for not backtracking. “Ignore the negativity. Brilliant ad,” one person commented.
Despite mounting criticism online, American Eagle’s stock surged 10% following the campaign’s release, reportedly adding more than $200 million to the company’s market value, according to Vanity Fair.
Political heat: JD Vance and Megyn Kelly weigh in
The controversy has spread beyond social media, drawing commentary from public figures like Vice President JD Vance, who addressed the issue on the Ruthless Podcast.
“My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi,” Vance said, per News.com.au. “That appears to be their actual strategy.”
“I mean, it actually reveals something pretty interesting about the Dems, though, which is that you have, like, a normal all-American beautiful girl doing like a normal jeans ad… and they have managed to so unhinge themselves over this thing,” the VP added.
He continued: “I actually thought that one of the lessons [Democrats] might take is we’re going to be less crazy. And the lesson they have apparently taken is we’re going to attack people as Nazis for thinking Sydney Sweeney is beautiful.”
Megyn Kelly echoed that sentiment on X, writing: “I love how the leftist meltdown over the Sydney Sweeney ad has only resulted in a beautiful white blonde girl with blue eyes getting 1000x the exposure for her ‘good genes.’”
White House communications director Steven Cheung also chimed in: “This warped, moronic, and dense liberal thinking is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024. They’re tired of this bulls***.”
According to CNN producer Alejandra Jaramillo, “no prominent Democratic Party leaders or officials have commented on the ad.”
Sweeney silent as brands brace for impact
Despite the uproar, Sydney Sweeney herself has yet to comment on the controversy. However, she previously told PEOPLE she was “freaking out” and “so excited” to join the brand’s campaign, calling AE’s denim “the comfiest jeans I’ve ever worn.”
The actress remains a red-hot figure in Hollywood, starring in Euphoria, The White Lotus, Reality, Immaculate, and Echo Valley, among other hits. Her slate of upcoming roles includes Americana with Halsey, The Housemaid with Amanda Seyfried, and a biopic of boxer Christy Martin.
Sweeney’s commercial clout remains equally strong, with brand deals ranging from Armani Beauty to Ford, Laneige, HeyDude, Bai, and Baskin-Robbins—although the latter has reportedly shut down comments on TikTok posts featuring her in recent days.
One of her most headline-grabbing stunts this summer involved selling her literal bathwater as part of a campaign for Dr. Squatch soap.