American Eagle breaks silence on Sydney Sweeney jeans ad backlash

Sydney Sweeney has been defended by American Eagle after their latest ad campaign faced backlash from critics who accused it of promoting racial messages.

The campaign, titled “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” featured the 27-year-old Euphoria star modeling jeans from the brand’s fall collection.

Some critics claimed that the slogan was a hidden reference to “great genes,” pointing to Sweeney’s European roots

A report from Salon alleged that the phrase has been “historically used to celebrate whiteness, thinness and attractiveness,” calling the campaign a “tone-deaf marketing move.”

However, American Eagle has finally broken the silence and in defense of its campaign released a statement on its Instagram account on Friday, August 1, reads, "‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story.'"

“We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone," the statement continued

One of the videos of the campaign showed Sydney zipping up her jeans while lying down as she said, "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.” A narrator then added, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”

The ad campaign did not land with viewers as it was intended by the jeans company as per their statement, causing online critics to link the ad to eugenics and Nazi propaganda, with one person writing, “Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle promoting eugenics and pushing the Aryan race Nazi propaganda was not in my 2025 bingo card.”

For those unversed, eugenics “is broadly defined as the use of selective breeding to improve the human race,” as per the National Institute of Health (NIH), and its research was adopted by the Nazi party to promote white supremacy.