While Sydney Sweeney has been acting since she was a teen, it feels like she’s been one of the biggest cultural figures online for the past three years or so. That rise in social media chatter has been good for her across the board – she’s a producer now, and she’s getting tons of projects financed; she’s getting tons of scripts and doing varied work; and she’s in demand for lots of sponsorships and ad campaigns. Years ago, she gave an interview where she spoke about her finances and how she was basically able to buy her first house because of her Miu Miu brand ambassadorship. She’s also done ad campaigns for Kérastase, Jimmy Choo, Armani Beauty, Laneige, Samsung, Dr. Squatch and more. But her American Eagle collab is the one getting the most attention right now.
As we discussed earlier this week, Sydney’s America Eagle commercials are very heavy on “eugenics.” The tagline is “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” and there was one commercial (which has since been taken down) where she said “Genes are passed down from parent to offspring, often determining traits like eye color, personality, and even hair color. My jeans are blue.” It’s heavily implied that Sydney’s “great genes” are blond hair, blue eyes and pure Aryan white skin. Well, it’s been a major discussion throughout the week, because everything Sydney does at this point makes news. Did I also mention that right-wingers have been trying to make Sydney’s hotness into some kind of culture war? Incels, misogynists and Republicans argue that Democrats want to do away with “blondes with huge cans.” Add to that, Sydney’s family seems pretty Republican, although Sydney has never indicated her own political leanings in any interview. All of which to say, the Trump White House has now gotten involved in the American Eagle discourse, because a blonde with huge cans needed rescuing.
The White House is weighing in on the controversial American Eagle jeans advertisement featuring Sydney Sweeney. White House communications manager Steven Cheung slammed the Left for its response to the ad, which reads “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.” The spot plays on “great genes,” which caused some liberal voices to denounce the campaign for glorifying her white heritage and thin physique.
“Cancel culture run amok,” Cheung wrote of the ad on X. “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 bullsh-t.”
In the commercial, 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.”
Conservative TV personality Megyn Kelly also called out the “lunatics on the Left” for their take-down of the ad, calling their reaction “absurd.”
“She’s being called a white supremacist by people who don’t like her latest ad, which is for American Eagle,” she said. “She’s advertising jeans, and yet the lunatics on the Left think she’s advertising white supremacy. This is obviously a reference to her body and not to her skin color, but the lunatic left is going to do what the lunatic left is going to do. They’re upset because it’s about who gets to be the face of America’s Best Genes. They think it’s no accident that they’ve chosen a white, thin woman because you’re, I guess, not allowed to celebrate those things in any way, shape, or form. But they’re completely ignoring the reference to her body, which is the thing she’s famous for. It’s just absurd.”
Holy crap, that Megyn Kelly quote!! “They’re upset because it’s about who gets to be the face of America’s Best Genes. They think it’s no accident that they’ve chosen a white, thin woman because you’re, I guess, not allowed to celebrate those things in any way, shape, or form.” Brought to you from the same woman who argued that Santa is white. Anyway, the Trump administration’s ears perked up when they heard “eugenics” and dumpy, demented Donald Trump is about one day away from ranting about HIS great genes too. Sydney needs to wrap this up. She probably won’t though – the controversy is amazing for American Eagle, and she’ll probably just shrug and say “they’re just jeans.”
Screengrabs from AE commercial.
Thus confirming it was racist! Guess that’s why MAGA is stating it “won”.
Another retailer goes the Target way.. Dunkin Donuts.. I see you, too
Exactly. The disingenuousness and faux outrage is exhausting.
I hadn’t heard yet about Dunkin, oh no. Not that I get anything there anyway, yuck.
Except it wasn’t faux racist it’s was overtly racist. She knew. Being a white supremacist barbie was her and her team’s choice. I doubt she cares. We know bezos will employ her. Hollywood is run by right wing garbage companies for right wing incels. She’ll always be employed.
I wouldn’t buy any thing from American Eagle anyway, everything in that store has threads hanging from it. Terrible tailoring and stitching 🧵
Your comment reminds me of this statement from a stylist and coach
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMoynXnuSfU/?igsh=cTZyYzQxYm0xazZi
Why didn’t they do a roll out campaign of a ton of different models, celebs and influencers all talking about their great JEANS and saying which A&E fit is their favorite?
Like – they thought it was a “clever” play on words, and ohhhh hahahaah her genes/ jeans are blue cuz denim but dear god. Just stop.
It could have been fun and NOT about superior white blonde blue genes. But they hardcore went in that direction.
AE got exactly what they wanted, a lot of free media coverage.
This could hurt her career in the long run…
I’m surprised she didn’t think this through.
She’s a busty white blonde. She’s literally a Nazi’s wet dream. Her “career” won’t suffer because the world is currently fueled by hate and largely ruled by, to put it mildly, evil people.
Not now necessarily. But times eventually change.
Benetton and Ambercrombie did ads that were weird and implied whiteness as the default category. And now no one admits to buying that stuff.
If she were a strong actress like Gwyneth, I think she’d be fine in the long run. But I don’t think of her as at level. But I could be wrong. I do think of her as someone more concerned with business than art, so even at the level of business I find her decision to do this ad a little strange.
10 years from now she might do a documentary explaining all her business decisions, I guess.
Depends on what she wants for her career. As long as she looks a certain way that crowd will support her. But that movie she’s doing where she plays the boxer or something? Yeah they are not going to be showing up for that one because, gasp!, she had the nerve to get “ugly” and “fat”. And if the more liberal crowd says no thanks to her attempts at prestige movies too? That becomes a self-inflicted limitation very quickly.
The problem with being a busty blonde is that new ones arrive daily. It takes more than that to have a long career. Sydney has good hustle but she’s not yet insulted by stardom.
Sydney will become more of an influencer than actress. I think that’s where the $$$ is . The randomness of her brand deals and her body of work as an actress is not based on quality. ..she was not selected as a muse for one designer. If she lands a visible role, she word salad her “ mistake” faux apology until the next time.
If she was smart, she should have used the Amazon line to develop bras and support for the “big girls” , totally believable and probably profitable.
Yes, but how will she count all that money? You must admit she’ll suffer in some way, I mean, just the paper cuts from counting the money alone is tragic.
Agree. So’s American Eagle. Why wear jeans that’s associated with fascists?
She might win the MAGA crowd but the Nazi blonde with cans also has a shelf life. And if you’re now known as running around supporting racism and fascism, it ain’t going to play well overseas where the rest of Western democracies are side-eyeing America.
So yeah I def aint going to be buying AE. But it feels like it’s for the young so not sure they care. But I might have bought gifts from there for the young people I know, especially around Christmas. So now I’ll for sure go somewhere else.
If she were younger and this was thirty years ago, Donald and Jeffrey would be trafficking her. Maybe the White House should stay out of this.
Boom.
I feel like people are misreading her – I understood her best reading one profile, I think it was in Hollywood Reporter, and she was quite fixated on money. I think that is the root for her – making as much money as possible. And when you get that, her choices of endorsements make so much more sense. This isn’t someone who cares about prestige and getting like a Dior and Tiffany’s contract. Also, in this nepo-baby era, she’s a throwback to the actor who came to Hollywood from nothing and has to hustle.
Agreed. She seems to only care about the money.
To make the most money from being a brand ambassador, you have to appeal to the most people. Do those deals keep coming if you become the face of a deeply divisive fascist movement?
Yeah we all know her background.. But she’s not poor anymore. This was a team choice to be racist barbie. She gets not leeway at all. She’s the incel racist wet dream. She can make money without being maga – that’s just her identity. Hence bezos wedding.. He’ll employ maga barbie, no worries. I hope everything she’s in tanks
I don’t this Sidney Sweeney should have to wear the controversy of a tagline she did not write. That said, she should speak out via her publicist and say something to the affect of “all genetics are beautiful, I celebrate more inclusion for brown eyes, brown skin and diverse beauty” and then get out.
Presumably, she and her team approved of the tagline. She’s not without agency when it comes to input in a campaign that she agrees to be the face of. It’s not like she’s a toddler who might not know better— she’s a 27 year old woman. There’s no way she didn’t approve of the premise beforehand and see the final cut before it went public and apparently, she gave it the thumbs up.
Yeah I’m not understanding the, she’s just trying to make money because she grew up poor so she doesn’t care and it’s okay framing. All money isn’t good money, and she absolutely should care for her long-term success how she’s positioning herself.
There’s always a flavor of the week when it comes to actors and singers, but she could definitely guarantee she has a longer-term career if she doesn’t alienate huge swaths of the population.
All I really know about her is that she was on euphoria, she leans very heavily into the sex bomb image, always seems to be wrapped up in some sort of racial coded mess, and that whole showmance/maybe affair for publicity thing with Glen Powell. I’m sure like everyone else there’s more to her but if this is my general knowledge of her that does not signal long-term success and she should be worried about that.
She was also recreating that lolita scene recently. I don’t think she cares about making bad choices as long as it gets attention.
She and her team approved the campaign.
Notice there are a lot of unusual pro SS comments being posted. They look like pr for her.
Meanwhile I’ll keep calling her SS – seems appropriate.
The marketing VP for American Eagle, Ashley Schapiro, was bragging on LinkedIn that Sydney seemed more than willingness to take this campaign as far as it can go. She had a say in everything that went into this campaign. She’s culpable.
If she had a problem with the eugenics angle of the ad, she’s had enough time to make a statement disclaiming her involvement.
This from the woman who lost her damn mind over black Santa smdh.
It’s a reflexive, pathological reaction at this point for MAGAts to defend anything racist so no surprises here.
Now let’s get back to Epstein….
I know she and her family are MAGA, but I imagine her whole team is freaking out about this. She’ll be starring opposite Mel Gibson and James Woods if she’s not careful. 😀
She missed her chance to get cast as Mary alongside Jim Caviezel in Gibson’s upcoming Resurrection of Christ. Bummer.
Thank you magas for making it perfectly clear on who to boycott and who not to watch. We already knew but it’s nice when you confirm for those who may be on the fence about it.
💯
I won’t watch anything with her in it.
I don’t have a problem with this campaign other than it’s NOT ORIGINAL. Calvin Klein did this with Brooke Shields back in the 80s.
Fast Company: “The simple way [AE] could have avoided the Sydney Sweeney situation” (7/29/25) has comparative ads, including Brooke Shields on the floor talking about genes, if, like Sydney Sweeney, you’re too young to remember.
The Calvin Klein Brooke Shields ads were overtly sexual, not racist. And she was only 15 when she filmed them. “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins…”, as in “I’m not wearing any underwear sukkas!”
Thin? Shut up Meg! Yeah no I don’t find this chick attractive at all. She always looks like she’s drowsy.
I don’t get her appeal at all. She is mid and average in every way. Pretty much every other actress on Euphoria outshines her in every way. White people will hype up anyone who is white, thin, and blonde! Blue eyes and big boobs are a bonus.
She can’t act at all, but she’s got big tits and shoves them in your face at every possible occasion. Slim, white, big tits. That’s her entire persona.
she’s got the same sociopathic dead eyes that steven miller and emile bove have. ijs
The acting in this jeans ad is bad…
The outfit doesn’t look great either.
Listen, if the Trump administration and MK were out there defending my ad, I’d be mortified with shame. But that’s just me.
She’ll probably fine. We see now that producers like that little gremlin Brian Grazer and who knows how many others, she’ll get work. She has no soul or ethics like that administration but it doesn’t matter to millions of fools in that cult.
What’s funny to me is how these people tout her basic looks and ceiling eyes. She’s got a nice figure with big boobs and that’s it. These simps out here acting like she Charlize Theron.
Compare this with Ralph Lauren’s ad. Sigh. She’s always been suspect. I don’t get why people are shocked she and her people approved this mess and the executives did too.
We are living in the stupidest timeline. The ad is racist and disturbing and should be discussed and condemned. There are plenty of public forums in which to do that. But I don’t see why the federal government needs to get involved. The White House weighing in on a jeans commercial just highlights how utterly undignified everything about Trump is. There are so many worse things one can say about him and his policies, but his pettiness and vulgarity continue to astonish.
Totally agree. I hate this moment, I can’t stand life these days with Trump in charge.
These alt right people have taken over, and Trump has made “good.genes” comments on camera about Elon musk’s son, who we all know believes in a superior race
We are so screwed. I can’t believe we’re devolving. How do we get our country back???!
The White House is probably weighing in because 🍊🤡 wants to get into Sydney’s great jeans,
I sent American eagle a nice, emotionally satisfying note about how I, A white lady with disposable income, loathes bigotry and refuse to financially support any corporation that has gone full mask off pro eugenics and racist. Will it change a single thing? No. But it did make me feel a tiny bit better. Also, can someone please explain the appeal of this particular Aryan Barbie, or it just that she’s the anti Zendaya to come out of euphoria? She’s not that pretty and she can’t act.
” But they’re completely ignoring the reference to her body, which is the thing she’s famous for.” How gross. God forbid she be famous for doing something that actually benefits humanity or even just for being a great actress.
She ruined her career.
I think so, there’s many other gen Z talented actresses who have become more buzzy than Sydney. I see Mikey Madison on my TL lately for the Bond girl role and other projects.
Sydney has been trying to produce a movie starring herself as Kim Novak when she had her affair with Sammy Davis Jr and directed Domingo Coleman. Something tells me this project is going to fall through after all this. It is the only project still in preproduction on her IMDB but I think financing may just get pulled because of this commercial and controversy
?!?!?!?!?!? Is she trying to have her MAGA cake and eat it too?
Positively gleeful to see how AE gets out of this mess. I thought the original ad was mostly questionably tone deaf for the era but not malicious (why would they need to code it? The government is saying it outright!), but now that the right wing has jumped in at their defense, it’s making it LOOK intentional even if it wasn’t. Their PR team is either panicking or preparing to pull a Coco Chanel and lean in.
The ad is unoriginal and in very poor taste, for sure. That being said I’ve been wearing AE jeans for decades and although I’m broke AF rn, I don’t intend to boycott. Affordable, flattering cuts and washes and (shout out to my fellow tall b!tches and petite friends!) a great selection of inseam lengths *shrug*.
I dislike this actress and that she’s stanning for MAGA. Eff her.
MAGAts need their pinups, always, and BoobiesVonBarbie up there decided to volunteer. Quelle surprise. We already knew her leanings.
Yep. Someone always wants to play the ultimate Aryan Princess. The MAGAts hate Taylor Swift because she had no time for this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristina_S%C3%B6derbaum
What on earth is the US Government doing weighing in on an ad campaign? This is not what governments are for. To paraphrase the summary for the movie Idiocracy, have we all been frozen, left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic?
That is my biggest takeaway here. Do we not have anythig more serious to worry about in the White House? (To be clear, racist ad campaigns that are pro-Eugenics ARE a concern to humans on the whole– but I don’t think the WH should be commenting on it when they have plenty of their own work to do. The people can “vote” on American Eagle with our wallets)
I’ve NEVA watched anything she’s been in since that family #Maga wedding BS & ESPECIALLY after that 🤬 that went on with her & Powell & the way his longtime girlfriend was treated…
So my stance will continue 😡
Agree after she inserted herself between Gigi and Glen, I kindve see her true colors.
Not a great look associating themselves to Maga . MAGA doesn’t really have the global purchasing power to make an impact on brands. We’ve already seen that.
I regret commenting too late in the day since my comment will be at the bottom, but if you were questioning a.) if Sydney had any say in the campaign and b.) whether the white supremacist message was intentional or just an honest mistake, the VP of Marketing for American Eagle Ashley Schapiro confirmed both in in a now deleted LinkedIn post. She was emphatic that Sydney was hands on during the entire process and that she even smirked at the idea on a Zoom call with the AE team; further, she agreed with the AE team that they should take it as far as they could go. And while Schapiro did not explicitly use the words “white supremacy,” her post did confirm that slogan had multiple meanings. So yes, all of this was by design and Sydney was a very willing participant.
Sydney is willing to play the Aryan Princess role that they couldn’t get Taylor to do.
All of this “is she or isn’t she” is cracking me up.
Has anyone ever been to Spokane?
Sure, some people rise above the mentality of their hometown. But Idaho and the Spokane area are pretty notorious for rampant white supremacy. She knew what she was doing in this ad.