Why The American Eagle Ad Could Never Be Neutral

Actress Sydney Sweeney in an American Eagle ad. Image from Twitter

The American Eagle ad that’s garnering much controversy has actress Sydney Sweeney wearing blue jeans and a blue jean shirt while saying, “my jeans/genes are blue.” In fact she says, in full, “genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My genes are blue. A voiceover says several times — “Sydney Sweeney has good jeans/genes.” It’s a double entendre. Sydney Sweeney has good jeans (the pair she’s wearing from American Eagle and the ones she inherited from her parents). The “jeans” are good for obvious reasons. They’re American Eagle and this is an American Eagle commercial. Why are her genetics good, you may ask, and what do they have to do with the selling of blue jeans?

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Except, American Eagle made a decision to court controversy knowing that the ad would elicit a reaction from anyone who’s aware of eugenics and the hard pivot right that America is currently undergoing, which includes thumbing its nose at diversity (including the diversity of beauty), and reclaiming the notion that white is right and the standard of beauty is a blonde, blue-eyed white woman. The recent legal attacks on companies that practice DEI (American Eagle is one of them), and a current presidential administration that is outright hostile to DEI policies…