Sydney Sweeney

[Teenytwo]

I keep seeing posts on my SM about Sydney and the controversy behind her advertisement for some jeans. I’ve seen multiple posts about it being controversial but I can’t understand why, she’s got a low cut top on but I wouldn’t consider it low enough to cause the attention it’s getting. Please can someone tell me what I have missed?

If it is something really obvious and I’m being an idiot I promise I’m not being goady, I genuinely can’t figure it out.

Who's telling Jews to wear yellow stars? Im going to guess people and groups already condemned by decent people as utter cunts?

There is nothing wrong with it. Some people are just jealous because she is good looking.

She doesn’t say she has good genes. Whats hard to understand?

I imagine op does know what eugenics is, quite hard to get through school in the UK without studying the Nazis and the concept of a perfect race. But maybe she hasn't heard of it by that name.

I wouldn’t have made the genes-eugenics jump personally. People say “you’ve got great genes” and so forth all the time, just meaning “your parents must be hot”, not “because you’ve got Aryan features”.

The voiceover/tagline says she has good jeans. After she talks about genes. I don’t know what to say? I feel like you should be able to see how this could be taken a certain way in America in 2025.

What do you mean @Thulpelly ?
What's a "certain way,"?

So what. If people want to make things up in their head, let them. It’s not Sydney Sweeney’s fault if random people are unhinged. Why must we always pander to the deluded?

This is an article in the Guardian from last year, discussing musk and trump’s obsession with “good genes”. AE knew it would be seen in this context and had zero concerns with playing to the racist right wing.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/30/donald-trump-elon-musk-genetics-science-right

I’m not saying that’s a great article, by the way, just using it to show that the concept of having good genes is not politically neutral. You’d have to be very naive to think that there are no nazi overtones - but then, look at all the people who bought the whole Musk throwing his heart/heil hitler salute. It’s hard to believe that these ideas are becoming mainstream again, particularly when they are snuck in under the guise of trolling democrats.

She looks very attractive in the advert and the play on words hasn’t gone down well for some. I think AE have done well out of the exposure and I barely knew of Sydney Sweeney before this.

Tbh it’s the vocal fry that makes me cringe. But it wasn’t well thought out by American eagle at all.

I don’t think so on that last line. The unpaid for exposure is worth so much.

I think it’s one of the best advertising campaigns for years, probably up there with “Hello, boys!”

Unfortunately, it’s also teaching companies that right now, baiting dei and flirting with racism/fascism is the way to get noticed.

Go woke, go broke, has never been truer. I don’t think the backlash is going to be pretty.

We didn’t cover Nazis really at school, it was covered if you picked history at GCSE! The entire knowledge I have of Nazis is from picking up bits along the way and going to Auswitz with a friend that wanted to visit. I hope I’m not being portrayed as being thick from not knowing something that I’ve since looked into.

What's implied is the issue. Eugenics. Really not subtle at all, she's stating that her genes are best because she's got blue eyes etc.
The current US climate is the target market, the president's, I'll be polite, base. Who Sydney Sweeney looks exactly like. The Karoline Leavitts of the world will buy 5 pairs.

She hasn’t said she’s got better genes because she has blue eyes. You’ve decided that in your own head

Can you point out where in the advert she points out she’s got ‘better’ genes please? And who her genes are better than? Must have missed that bit.

Exactly she is saying she has good genes not superior genes.
of someone is good looking it is exactly because they have good genes.
Good looking people from any ethnicity are good looking because they have good genes.

It’s a funny one. There are a bunch of people on Twitter who have put photos of Beyoncé (in Levi’s) next to Sydney Sweeney and asked people to compare. They aren’t particularly similar - Beyoncé is amazing (and a damn sight better looking than most women) but she is also my age. She has been famous for well over twenty years. Sydney Sweeney is in her twenties and is a relatively new actress.

A more accurate comparison would be Zendaya.

That’s true, although I don’t know whether Zendaya has ever modelled jeans.

I expect that part of the reason for using Sydney Sweeney is to appeal to young people. Beyoncé (for all that she is fantastic and accomplished) is someone who has been in music videos since 1997 - young people are unlikely to identify with someone they’ve been seeing on the telly since childhood.

Beyonce is 43. Even Taylor Swift is nearly forty. Time for a new generation!

I should add that I am 59 😆 But a lot of journos still think that Bey and TayTay are cutting edge.

If you visit a luxury beauty shop in the UK like Sephora or Space NK, you’ll see SS advertising for Laneige and Kerastase. Before anyone says I’ve never heard of those brands, people who shop at that kind of place will know and have seen her campaigns.

SS rose to fame in the tv series Euphoria which also stars Zendaya. The average Gen Z will know SS for a few years.