American Eagle Responds to Sydney Sweeney Denims Advert Controversy

American Eagle desires you to know: it is in regards to the denims.

The retailer broke the silence on the controversy surrounding its “nice denims” advert marketing campaign starring actor Sydney Sweeney.

“‘Sydney Sweeney has Nice Denims’ is and all the time was in regards to the denims,” the corporate stated Friday, in a press release on Instagram. “Her denims. Her story. We’ll proceed to have fun how everybody wears their AE denims with confidence, their method. Nice denims look good on everybody.”

The model acquired each criticism and reward for its advert marketing campaign, which options the 27-year-old star.

“Genes are handed down from dad and mom to offspring, usually figuring out traits like hair shade, character, and even eye shade. My denims are blue,” Sweeney says in a single spot.

The message — and Sweeney’s blonde hair, blue eyes, and lightweight pores and skin — sparked a debate on social media over magnificence requirements, with some slamming the marketing campaign as “regressive.”

Some social media critics drew comparisons to the debunked theories of eugenics and the German Nazi motion.

“Eugenics propaganda does sometimes focus so much on this concept of who has good genes and who has dangerous genes,” stated one TikToker who says she is pursuing a level in historical past.

She added: “It is one factor to speak about good denims with a J in promoting, but it surely’s a complete different factor to say somebody has ‘nice’ genes with the G.”

The backlash noticed backlash of its personal as properly, with conservative commentators celebrating Sweeney’s look and mocking “cancel tradition run amok.”

Elon Musk’s Tesla even weighed in with a video of one in every of its high quality management assessments exhibiting a denim-on-leather take a look at at one in every of its services.

“Our seats robotic additionally has nice denims,” the Tesla account posted on X.

“Seatney,” it added.

Marcus Collins, an assistant professor of promoting on the College of Michigan, instructed the Related Press that American Eagle may need prevented a few of the backlash if it had made the “genes” wordplay with a number of fashions of various races.

With all of the commotion over American Eagle’s try at wordplay, evidently wit — like magnificence — is usually within the eye of the beholder.