American Eagle has issued an official statement on the whole Sydney Sweeney ‘Great Genes/Jeans’ controversy after the ad campaign blew up on social media. The brand, however, doubled down, insisting it was always about ‘jeans’ and that it’s Sweeney’s life, her story. On the other hand, the row has now caught White House attention, with Vice President JD Vance taking a swipe at Democrats for having a meltdown over the matter. The statement came right after communications director Steven Cheung slammed the backlash as “moronic,” calling it a case of “cancel culture run amok.”
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American Eagle responds to Sydney Sweeney controversy
Two days after a brand executive claimed their campaign was meant to support domestic violence prevention, with proceeds going to a nonprofit, the company issued a statement to Page Six. “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is, and always was, about the jeans,” they said in a press release, adding, “Her jeans. Her story.” The popular clothing brand, which claims that around 70 per cent of its customers actually liked the ad, according to an in-house survey, added that it’s not backing down. “We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,” the statement read, before signing off with: “Great jeans look good on everyone.”
Also read: Sydney Sweeney’s ad isn’t selling ‘great jeans’, but the body in them — and that’s the problem
Earlier, the Euphoria actor was hit with social media backlash after starring in an ad campaign and saying, “I have great jeans… now you can too @americaneagle #AEPartner #AEJeans.” The slogan, meant to be a pun on the word “genes”, immediately blew up, with many slamming the brand for pushing a white supremacy narrative by calling features like blonde hair and blue eyes the standard. Some even went as far as calling it Nazi propaganda. “When those traits are consistently uplifted as genetic excellence, we know where this leads,” one person said in a viral TikTok video. “This just echoes the pseudoscientific language of racial superiority. All throughout history, those traits have been weaponised to uphold a racial hierarchy.”
JD Vance mocks Sydney Sweeney controversy
Vice President JD Vance on Friday weighed in on the Sydney Sweeney ad controversy, backing the brand and mocking Democrats for the outrage. Appearing on the conservative ‘Ruthless’ podcast, he said, “My political advice to the Democrats is: continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive that they’re a Nazi. That appears to be their actual strategy.” Even though no top Democrats have publicly reacted to the campaign, the Hillbilly Elegy author didn’t hold back. “I mean, it actually reveals something pretty interesting about the Dems. You’ve got a normal, all-American, beautiful girl doing a normal jeans ad, right?” he said. “They’re trying to sell jeans to kids in America—and somehow that’s enough to send the other side into a meltdown. Did you guys learn nothing from the November 2024 election?”
He also defended Sweeney for just being, in his words, “beautiful,” and slammed the backlash as proof that “so much of the Democrats is oriented around hostility to basic American life.” He added, “You have a pretty girl doing a jeans ad, and they can’t help but freak out. It reveals a lot more about them than it does us.”
