Fresh off a gig where she sold “morning wood” soap containing her used bathwater, actor Sydney Sweeney is back in the spotlight—this time for a controversial American Eagle ad. The campaign plays on a simple pun: Sweeney, dressed in denim, boasts about her “great jeans.”
Normally, a clothing brand using a trendy star and a cheesy wordplay to sell jeans wouldn’t raise eyebrows. But this ad has sparked a heated debate—one that’s even reached the White House—over whether a blonde, blue-eyed actress (who stays mostly apolitical) talking about her “great genes” is a subtle nod to eugenics.
The backlash centers on a now-deleted campaign video where Sweeney, smirking at the camera, says: “My body’s composition is determined by my genes.” After a playful moment where the cameraperson seems to glance at her chest, she continues: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color… My jeans are blue.”
A TikTok reaction video with nearly 300,000 likes accused Sweeney of being tone-deaf. “It’s literally giving… Nazi propaganda?” the creator said (probably not the best take). She also questioned why jeans needed to be sexualized—to which the obvious answer is: Welcome to advertising.
The liberal outrage has been a gift to Fox News, which covered this “scandal” 28 times more than the Epstein files this week. Even White House staffers weighed in. “Cancel culture run amok,” wrote communications manager Steven Cheung on X, calling the backlash “warped, moronic liberal thinking.” Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly also mocked the “lunatic left” for overreacting.
Just when the American Eagle drama seemed to fizzle out, another genetics-themed ad popped up—this time for Dunkin’. Their “Golden Hour” refresher commercial features actor Gavin Casalegno saying: “This tan? Genetics. I just got my color analysis back. Guess what? Golden summer, literally!”
Cue more influencer meltdowns. “Why are ads suddenly obsessed with genetics?” one TikToker asked. Another wondered: “What does a drink have to do with DNA?” (To be fair, ads have never made much sense—remember the Cadbury’s drumming gorilla?)
Technically, you need three examples to call something a “trend.” Unless a toothpaste ad drops mid-article bragging about “superior genetic enamel,” we’re still in “weird coincidence” territory. But the fixation on genetics in ads does reflect something about our cultural moment—even if it’s mostly that brands no longer care about subtlety.For nearly a decade (until around 2022), brands were deep in the era of “woke-vertising,” eagerly embracing feminist and activist messaging to appear progressive.
Take Kendall Jenner’s infamous 2017 Pepsi ad, where she supposedly solves world peace by handing a cop a soda at a protest. That same year, a financial firm placed the “Fearless Girl” statue facing Wall Street’s Charging Bull, pretending investment banking was empowering. Even Victoria’s Secret tried a feminist rebrand. Ad agencies also loved hosting endless panels about diversity—I know, because I worked in advertising and sat through plenty of them.
But now that Trump has declared war on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), many companies have happily dropped the pretense of caring about feminism or diversity.
I don’t think the recent American Eagle and Dunkin’ ads are endorsing eugenics, but I doubt they would’ve aired in 2020, when George Floyd’s death made racism a national conversation. Back then, brands would’ve been more cautious about genetic references.
Still, the focus on “genes” reflects how eugenics-adjacent ideas are creeping into mainstream culture. Elon Musk keeps urging smart people to have more kids—a popular talking point in pro-natalist circles. Then there’s Simone and Malcolm Collins, the so-called “hipster eugenicists,” making headlines for their mission to breed genetically optimized children via IVF. More startups are also offering embryo screening for “desirable” traits, with one claiming their service could produce kids averaging six IQ points higher than natural conception.
American Eagle might not be openly selling eugenics, but we’re definitely stepping into the age of designer genes.
