As ADWEEK reported on July 29, the ad’s juxtaposition of Sweeney’s line, “My body’s composition is determined by my genes,” and the narrated slogan “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” prompted some critics to charge that the ad was nostalgic for eugenics, a discredited belief—though popular in 1920s and ’30s America—that society could be bettered through selective breeding.
American Eagle’s statement refutes to that suggestion, however, adding that “we’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
Though the post’s intent is evidently to sort out any misunderstandings over the ad’s meaning, the statement straddles the issue even as it confronts it. While AE makes clear that the ad was “always about the jeans”—in other words, not about the desirability of certain biological and racial characteristics—it’s also clearly defending the campaign.Â
Historically, in cases where a piece of advertising creates an imbroglio, it’s common for a brand to apologize and yank the ad. This is what Pepsi did following its disastrous 2017 short film in which Kendall Jenner soothed racial unrest by handing a can of cola to a cop—a theme that offended Black Lives Matter supporters, among others. (“Clearly, we missed the mark,” the company said at the time.)
It’s also unclear why American Eagle waited several days to respond to the tumult—and did so late on a summer Friday afternoon, after the weekly news cycle had ended. (The company did not respond by press time to ADWEEK’s request for an explanation.)
Meanwhile, Sweeney’s own Instagram account has kept the actress a safe distance from the fracas that began earlier this week. Her most recent post, dated July 23, features her working on the engine of a 1968 Mustang fastback—wearing jeans, of course.