Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign is facing mockery on TikTok.
Last week, the retailer debuted “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” its biggest campaign to date that aims to sell jeans to cost-conscious consumers this fall. While American Eagle declined to disclose exact numbers for the campaign, chief marketing officer Craig Brommer previously told ADWEEK the media investment was “significantly more” than past fall campaigns.Â
After an initial stock surge the day after the campaign’s announcement, the campaign sparked backlash due to accusations of racist undertones and catering to the male gaze. The campaign centers around the idea that Sweeney, a blonde with blue eyes, has great genes. One ad shows Sweeney crossing out the “genes” in copy that reads “Sydney Sweeney has great genes” and replacing the word with “jeans.” In another clip, Sweeney breathily says, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color.”
Social backlash
On TikTok, the ad is being mocked for allegedly promoting eugenics and Nazi propaganda. American Eagle did not respond to ADWEEK’s request for comment on the social media backlash.
Within American Eagle’s TikTok post of the campaign, the post contains comments like, “Is that supposed to get women buying your jeans?” and “If not eugenics, why eugenics shaped?”
TikTok users are also posting comedic videos that use the controversial ad’s soundtrack. An audio clip of ad’s voiceover has been used in more than 2,500 videos.
Most commonly, TikTok users use the audio clip to post a video using the portion of audio where Sweeney explains how genes work. Many of the videos mock Sweeney’s slurred pronunciation of the ad copy.
One video that accumulated more than 5.4 million views and 750,000 likes reads, “girl why the hell are you talking like that.” Another video with 3 million views and over 410,000 likes shows the creator attempting to mouth her words, with a caption insulting her pronunciation.