Jacey Tanioka/The Mossy Log
The shot opens — denim-clad knees, a woman speaking in a quiet, sultry voice, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring.” The camera slowly pans to the right, revealing the jeans’ undone zipper. She buttons them up, and in a swift motion, zips them. While slightly arching her back, she continues, “often determining traits such as hair color, personality, or even eye color.” Finally, the camera finds her face — her long blonde hair, pale skin and vivid blue eyes. “My jeans are blue,” she says. Words flash across the screen alongside a voice, which announces, “SYDNEY SWEENEY HAS GREAT JEANS.”
Since this American Eagle ad featuring Sydney Sweeney dropped in July, along with a collection of other partnered ads with the former “Euphoria” actress, questions have emerged regarding the ad’s intended messaging. Many online have recognized the ad’s racist themes. It noticeably stars a white, blonde, blue-eyed woman and a play on words between “jeans” and “genes.” The bright blue denim of the ad mirrors Sweeney’s deep blue eyes that loom in the last frame of the shot, signifying her as a holder of both great “jeans” and “great genes.”
The link to eugenics and Nazism pooling from this 15-second ad has created an outrage all over social media and the press. Some attribute it to the rise of eugenism and racism in mainstream American politics, while others insist that the backlash is overblown, a result of “woke” liberal political ideology. No matter where you stand on the spectrum of opinion, however, I feel we can all agree that Sweeney was chosen specifically for an ad like this due to her adherence to conventional American beauty standards. What, then, do those beauty standards say about us?
In the last line, the script makes an intentional visual connection between the blue of Sweeney’s eyes and the blue of her jeans. Her blue eyes, blonde hair and pale skin are all historical symbols of “whiteness” that have been used throughout history to set people apart and mark them as “superior” to those who look different. It is part of the qualifications that Hitler and his Nazi Party used to differentiate the supposed “superior” “Aryan race” from their inferiors.
Why would American Eagle foster such an obvious implication of white racial superiority in an ad about jeans? I believe this ad is a marker of a new age in the mainstream zeitgeist — one that openly celebrates white supremacism, reflecting the far-right nosedive of American politics. The ad itself is designed to inspire backlash. In a statement to the press, American Eagle Chief Marketing Officer Craig Brommers explained that with its “clever, even provocative language,” the ad was “definitely going to push buttons.” Ads like this test boundaries and push the limits on what is acceptable to state explicitly.
This kind of controversy also benefits American Eagle. Brommers has asserted that he believes “this is really about a reset.” Sweeney’s photoshoots continue to be displayed in stores, and there has been a great demand for Sweeney-curated American Eagle products. Although it is too early to tell the complete effect Sweeney’s partnered ads have had on the company, Brommers seems confident that it is a success.
“Let me be very clear: Sydney Sweeney sells great jeans,” Brommers has stated. “She is a winner.”
This positive appraisal stems from the well-practiced truth that “any press is good press.” Although American Eagle sales have dropped slightly during the June-August quarter, it is too soon to evaluate Sweeney’s role in the resulting sales. What can be said is that Sweeney offered a “reset” for the company as Brommers said – a way to create buzz when sales were already predicted to be low, according to The New York Times. This ad is clearly intended to provoke people, stir discourse and circulate American Eagle throughout the media, eventually joining the ranks of discourse in the culture war and deep political divide of the United States. This is seen through statements made by public officials such as J.D. Vance, who ridiculed “the Dems” for criticizing this “normal, all-American beautiful girl doing a normal jeans ad,” and Donald Trump, who called the ad “fantastic.” When you consider the move by the right to dehumanize those they find undesirable, such as immigrants and people of color, along with their insistence in normalizing and romanticizing the idea of American whiteness, this outward support makes sense.
Regardless of American Eagle’s intentions in creating this ad, its very existence symbolizes the breaking of taboo — saying the quiet part out loud as it pertains to American racism. While it rises in the discursive kindling fire of America’s bitter political divide, this only serves to soften its blows. There can be no nuance in this discussion. This ad is racist. It promotes white supremacism. This should be the end of the story, but the subtle nature of its implications, invisible to the untrained eye and ignored by those who would like to utilize its messaging, shield it from true censure by claiming that the outrage is an overreaction. It is because of this cycle of outrage and gaslighting that more ads like this, along with other forms of digital media, will be allowed to creep in.
Propaganda will continue to grow to mirror the political regime we are living under. The alliance between corporate power and our fascist overlords serve to dehumanize any people they deem “undesirable” while praising what J.D. Vance calls “all-American,” which is to say, “white.”
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