American Eagle responded to continued criticism over its new ad campaign, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” which sparked backlash for its wordplay of “genes” and “jeans.”
In an Aug. 1 statement on its official Instagram page, American Eagle addressed the controversy for the first time since the campaign’s debut earlier this week.
โ’Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeansโ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story,โ the company’s statement reads.
โWeโll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,โ the statement continues. โGreat jeans look good on everyone.โ
The advertisements feature the “Anyone But You” actor modeling denim from the brand while cuddling a puppy, fixing a car and zipping up the fly of her jeans. It also uses wordplay.
In one set of posters, the tagline is printed out as, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Genes.” The video then shows the final word crossed out and rewritten as “Jeans.”
Critics online were quick to lambast the advertisement and claim the messaging was rooted in outdated beauty standards and racially biased undertones. Some of the ads, which featured close-ups of Sweeney’s body, also led to claims that the videos objectified the actor and appealed to a male gaze.
A representative for Sweeney declined to comment on the backlash.
Cheryl Overton of the integrated marketing communications firm Cheryl Overton Communications previously told TODAY.com that while the ad isn’t explicit in its references to race, it โdoesnโt exist in a vacuum,โ adding it was created in โa country actively grappling with social standards rooted in whiteness.โ
โThe subtext isnโt imagined; itโs rooted in centuries-old narrative about one archetype of beauty that is seen as genetically superior or โaspirational,โ she said.
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