American Eagle responds to controversy over Sydney Sweeney ad

CLOTHING COMPANY AMERICAN Eagle has responded to the controversy surrounding its recent advertisement with actress Sydney Sweeney, which critics have accused of containing racist dogwhistles.

In a short campaign video released this week, Sweeney, who is known for her roles in Euphoria and The Handmaid’s Tale, is seen putting on a pair of jeans.

She says in a voiceover: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My genes are blue.”

Text that appears on the screen at the end of the video says: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”

For some viewers, the combination of the wordplay of the campaign coupled with Sweeny’s blue eye and blonde hair had racial undertones; a celebration of “blue” genes over others.

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Opponents argued these critics were reading too much into the ads. The counter-argument was that subtle forms of racism can often be coded in ways that aren’t always immediately obvious on the surface.

American Eagle, the brand behind the ad, has issued a response this evening saying the ad “is and always was about the jeans”.

“Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how energyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,” it said.

“Great jeans look good on everyone.”

A fashion critic for the Washington Post, Rachel Tashjian, wrote this week whether or not the ad had racial undertones, it was in any case “part of a wave of imagery of influencers, pop stars and musicians that feels tethered to the values of another time”.

“For the past five or six years, it seemed like fashion and pop culture were very interested in — even dedicated to — body positivity. Now we’re being fed a lot of images of thinness, whiteness and unapologetic wealth porn,” Tashjian wrote.

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