Sydney Sweeney‘s latest ad campaign with American Eagle Outfitters drew fire for a “jeans-genes” wordplay. Accused of “promoting whiteness”, the advertisement took social media by storm. From Doja Cat’s viral TikTok video to netizens condemning the “not-so-subtle racism” in the commercial, the brand collaboration went viral for all the wrong reasons.

The Euphoria actress, in the ad, says, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring… My jeans are blue.” The visuals, then, go on and emphasise the conventional beauty standards such as her blonde hair and blue eyes. Kaizen, a life coach and Emmy winner, among many others, took to X (formerly Twitter) and opposed the status quo. He wrote, “The Sydney Sweeney ‘has good genes’ ads aren’t about demonizes beauty, excellence, and virtue itself. Woke is dead, and beauty is back.”

Doja Cat mocks Sydney Sweeney in “Good Jeans” ad

Days after the American Eagle ad blew up, Doja Cat posted a video on TikTok mocking the dialogue of the ad. Speaking in a distorted accent as a parody, she repeated the infamous line “I have good jeans”, while the ad was still under fire for its “Nazi propaganda energy”.

Netizens, however, have not been gentle with the heteronormative emphasis in the advertisement. While supporting the actress, many users online called the criticism leftist propaganda and cursed at the “woke” and “liberal” ideologies. Terms like “xenophobic, racist,” and “scientifically inaccurate” were thrown around only to leave the netizens divided, yet concerned.

MAGA activists, too, called out the ones criticising their sexual preference. Apart from being called a “white dog whistle”, multiple customers called for a “boycott” of American Eagle, following the campaign.

This comes just months after Sweeney’s deal with Dr Squatch soap blew out of proportion. Not just a target of trolling, but also triggering a meme fest online, the ‘Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss’ soap bar was reportedly made with her “bath-water” as a “men’s natural soap”.

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Was it really intentional?

An expert told NPR that the whole campaign might have been intentional. “Create controversy, cut through the noise”, a motto behind many strategies today in the saturated world of advertising. They referred to Calvin Klein’s 1980 campaign, which sexualised minors and received its due backlash.

Following the entire debacle, American Eagle has not released any official statement yet. But “great genes” was removed from the latest version of the ad campaign. Additionally, the brand will also donate all proceeds from the “Sydney Jean” to a mental health non-profit.