At the core of the brouhaha is the punny, interchangeable use of genes and jeans. The tagline on the print ads and the online video is \u201cSydney Sweeney has good jeans\u201d.<\/p>\n
In one video, a horizontal Sweeney is pulling on the pants, a la Brooke Shields, while intoning, \u201cGenes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even hair colour. My jeans are blue.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the harm in that, you might ask. Perhaps at another time in another world, not much.<\/p>\n
But in America in 2025, the reactions have been visceral, ranging from \u201ca little tone-deaf\u201d to accusations of outright racism. Some of the comments beneath Sweeney\u2019s Instagram post of the campaign have included, \u201cOh cute, she\u2019s in her Nazi propaganda era!\u201d and \u201cPromoting eugenics (is) big (in) 2025\u201d.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump\u2019s return to the White House in January has heightened anti-immigration sentiment in the US with much of the discourse centred on what characteristics (racial, physical) constitutes \u201cAmerican\u201d.<\/p>\n
Non-Anglo American citizens have been swept up in raids by immigration agents and imprisoned, with allegations they were targeted because of how they look.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has also banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs within federal agencies and required the same of any private companies with government contracts.<\/p>\n
American Eagle declaring Sweeney\u2019s blond-haired, blue-eyed attributes as \u201cgood\u201d genes is indeed a sensitive play with American racial politics what it is under the current government. The brand likely didn\u2019t mean anything by it, but the association is awkward nonetheless.<\/p>\n
The fuel to the fire is the chequered perception of Sweeney\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n
As with any starlet who has had a meteoric rise over a handful of years thanks to high-profile roles in The White Lotus, Euphoria and Anyone But You, most aspects of Sweeney\u2019s life has come under scrutiny.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Sweeney was criticised for a series of photos she posted from a family party for her mother\u2019s 60th birthday. In one picture, Sweeney had posed alongside her mother, her grandmother and a man wearing a Blue Lives Matter t-shirt.<\/p>\n
The Blue Lives Matter movement emerged as a counter-argument to Black Lives Matter and is perceived as a right-wing response to protests against police brutality of marginalised communities.<\/p>\n
Partygoers at the country western-themed event had also worn MAGA parody caps which read \u201cMake Sixty Great Again\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Sydney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/451f6af1d9241b521c086d4016ca49cfa309cf41.jpg\")
Sydney Sweeney attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” exhibition on Monday, May 1, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP) Credit: Evan Agostini\/Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n
At the time, Sweeney responded to the furore, \u201cYou guys this is wild. An innocent celebration for my moms (sic) milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention. Please stop making assumptions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite having previously spoken out in favour of reproductive choice and LGBTQI rights, Sweeney is sometimes seen as perhaps rocking secret right-wing politics and that her love of cars and country music is a signal to conservative voters.<\/p>\n
In the current controversy, online commentators have even raised the point that Sweeney\u2019s dog, Sully, is a German Shepherd, which is, frankly, non-sense. Leave the dog alone.<\/p>\n
What Sweeney has been upfront about is that she takes brand deals for the money. She said in a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, \u201cIf I just acted, I wouldn\u2019t be able to afford my life in LA. I take deals because I have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is or has been an ambassador for Kerastase, Laneige, Armani Beauty, Miu Miu, Tory Burch and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Such is the febrile political environment in the US today, that an ad campaign for denim can spark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2331,43,44,2332,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-29378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-culture","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-pop-culture","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}