Sydney Sweeney is once again at the center of a cultural storm and this time, it’s not about soap, a MAGA-themed birthday bash, or her bathwater hustle. It’s about jeans. Or, more precisely, “genes.”
In a new ad campaign by American Eagle, the Euphoria and Anyone But You star earnestly discusses how genes, the biological kind, determine traits like hair color and personality. She then abruptly pivots to say, “My jeans are blue,” as the narrator concludes with a not-so-subtle punchline: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
Cue internet combustion.
While American Eagle insists the campaign is simply a cheeky celebration of self-expression: “Her jeans. Her story.” Many online aren’t buying it. The backlash quickly escalated, with critics accusing the ad of not just poor taste, but flirting with fascist-era eugenic ideals. The uncomfortable overlap between Sweeney’s white-blonde, blue-eyed look and the historical fixation on “superior genes” was, as one user said, “about as subtle as a brick through a window.”
That’s how a lighthearted denim ad has become a flashpoint in the culture wars, prompting accusations of white supremacist undertones. Critics have labeled it “eugenics cosplay” and “a love letter to white nationalism,” while supporters see the outrage as yet another “liberal overreaction.” Trump’s former White House comms chief even chimed in, calling critics “dense” and claiming the left is “too sensitive to compliments.”
But this isn’t just a skirmish over wordplay; it’s about what images and language mean in 2025’s hypercharged sociopolitical climate. Sydney Sweeney, willingly or not, has become a lightning rod – a cultural Rorschach test onto which America projects its anxieties, biases, and battle lines.
Yes, she’s got great jeans. But the internet is asking, at what cost?
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