American Eagle Outfitters responded to backlash over its recent ads featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, saying its campaign “is and always was about the jeans.”
The retailer generated widespread scrutiny this week after launching its denim-focused fall campaign that featured Sweeney. The tagline read: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
Many online accused American Eagle of promoting eugenics, “white supremacy” and “Nazi propaganda” with the campaign, implying that the company was also promoting the genes of a white, blond woman with its play on words.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,” Sweeney says in one of the video clips, before the camera pans up to her blue eyes. “My jeans are blue.”
But American Eagle rejected that notion Friday in its statement posted to social media.
“Her jeans. Her story,” the post read. “We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
Representatives for Sweeney did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the brand’s new statement.
Sweeney has not publicly commented on the backlash to the campaign.
The celebrity, who rose to fame thanks to starring roles in “The White Lotus” and “Euphoria,” appeared in more than a dozen posts on American Eagle’s Instagram before the company swapped the featured model.
Some commenters, who pointed out that the new model appeared to be nonwhite, were quick to call the company’s new post “damage control.”
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