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Sydney Sweeney's controversial new "great jeans" advert for American Eagle has been widely criticised on social media for its perceived racial and genetic messaging, and even been accused of creating "eugenics rage bait".
The Euphoria actor stars in the clothing brand's fall 2025 campaign, where there is wordplay on “jeans” and “genes" along with the tagline “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans", which has some viewers uncomfortable with this conflation.
In one of the ads, Sweeney is modelling the clothes from the new collection and says, "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality, and even eye colour... my jeans are blue," followed by a voiceover that then says, "Sydney Sweeney has great Jeans."
Another advert from the campaign sees Sweeney “painting” over the words “great genes” to change them to “great jeans."
"My body's composition is determined by my genes," Sweeney says in a different ad as the camera pans down to her body, and she then says, "Hey! Eyes up here," followed by the voiceover tagline once again.
This has prompted widespread discussions online about how the notion of “good genes” has previously been used to push eugenics policies in the US.
Sayantani DasGupta (@ayantanidasguptabooks), an author and a professor of Narrative Medicine, broke down in a viral TikTok (1.2 million views) how the American Eagle campaign is "imbued with eugenic messaging," and how this reflects the current political climate.
She explained the history behind eugenics, which has seen the "killing off of undesirable peoples" and the "forced sterilization and decrease of reproduction among undesirable communities" in the American South and in incarceration, as well as immigrant detention populations.
DasGupta then cites Jean Kilbourne, who says, "Ads not only sell products; they sell concepts of love, success, sexuality, and normalcy", and with this in mind, highlights how Sweeney - who is blonde and blue-eyed - talks about parents passing on traits like eye and hair colour.
@sayantanidasguptabooks #greenscreen race, pollution, and the political moment: why I’m teaching this #americaneagle ad in my college class this semester #eugenics #race #sydneysweeney #soap #immigrants #narrativemedicine
Sweeney's recent bathwater soap also gets a mention as DasGupta notes how historically this is a "racialized product" as whiteness is associated with cleanliness.
All in all, the professor concluded the American Eagle advert is "contributing to and reinforcing this kind of anti-immigrant, anti-people of colour, pro-eugenic, political moment."
Meanwhile, creator @saltlacroix outlined how the advert is a "perfect "example of the "E" in "Operation BEIGE", which stands for Boring and Engineered to Identify with Gentrification and Eugenics."
@saltlacroix puns are hack at best, sometimes they’re worse #sydneysweeney #sydneysweeneyjeans #americaneaglejeans #americaneagle #2025fashion #fashiontiktok #marketing #operationbeige #socialcommentary
"This feels like a loud dog whistle as we've had in retail marketing recently," she said in her video with 2.8 million views. "It just feels important to call the 'Make Eugenics Sexy Again' campaign strategy behind all of this."
The TikToker elaborated, also noting it was a "strange choice" to have a profile view of Sweeney with the words "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans" to "display her perfectly European features."
Mercedes Chandler (@campcallout) called the American Eagle advert "eugenics rage bait," saying it's in a bid to "revamp their failing company" and noted how they lost over $60 million in the first quarter, with the second quarter predicted to be "just as bad".
The creator said they used this double entendre in the ad that "they knew was going to fire up half of the nation and give them endless publicity," and it worked with their stock shooting up overnight by $310 million.
Indy100 has reached out to American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney's representative for comment.
It's not the first time Sweeney has come under fire for an advert she's starred in, as she previously received backlash over launching a soap made with her actual bathwater.
Elsewhere, Sydney Sweeney’s used bath water soap reselling for hundreds on eBay, and Sydney Sweeney launches soap made with her actual bathwater.
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