Sydney Sweeney fans have rushed to her defence after her new campaign for American Eagle was branded ‘Nazi propaganda’ by woke critics.
The A-list actress, 27, is the face of the label’s autumn advertising rollout, which has the tagline, ‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.’
In a series of images, the Spokane, Washington-born beauty – who is set to play boxer Christy Martin in an upcoming biopic already garnering Oscar buzz – is seen modeling a variety of denim-based ensembles.
In an accompanying video, Sydney is seen buttoning up her jeans as she muses: ‘Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour… my genes are blue’.
A second advert sees the camera pan down Sydney’s chest as she models a plunging denim jumpsuit.
She muses: ‘My body’s composition is determined by my genes…’ before exclaiming: ‘Hey, eyes up here’ as the camera cuts back to her face.
The advert has divided fans, however, with one critic calling the clip ‘one of the loudest and most obvious racialized dog whistles we’ve seen and heard in a while.’
The phrase ‘great genes’ is ‘historically used to celebrate whiteness, thinness and attractiveness,’ which it said made ‘this campaign seem to be a tone-deaf marketing move,’ a Salon report on the backlash read.
Taking to social media, many expressed their shock at messaging – which they aligned to Nazi propaganda.
Outraged fans penned: ‘So Sydney (& American Eagle) somehow expect audiences to not interpret this visual as a euphemism for eugenics and white supremacy?’
‘The Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad campaign is just modern day Nazi propaganda. Like it’s wild how blatant it is. Things are weird right now, man.’;
‘the most nazi part of the Sydney sweeney add for me was the use of the word offspring’;
‘“Jeans (Genes) are past down from parent to offspring” “My jeans (genes) are blue” “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans (genes)” Nothing is ever a coincidence, this is eugenics’;
TikTok named Angie under the handle @vital_media_marketing then reviewed the ad and pointed out what she felt were problematic elements with the underlying message.
Angie said: As it’s panning up her body and on her face and her features, she’s literally talking about her family tree and the genetics that have been handed down to her, her blonde hair and her blue eyes, and how great they are.’
Angie said that ‘praising Sydney Sweeney for her great genes in the context of her white blonde hair, blue eye appearance’ makes for ‘one of the loudest and most obvious racialized dog whistles we’ve seen and heard in a while.’
Many people panned the tone of the ad campaign on American Eagle’s Instagram page, as one user quipped, It’s giving “Subtle 1930’s Germany.”‘
Another user echoed, ‘Close enough, welcome back 1930s Germany.’
One person said the promotion ‘is what happens when you have no [people] of color in a room … particularly in a time like this.
‘This ad campaign got so caught up in this “clever” play on words and this stunt the ppl in the room missed what was so blatantly obvious to anyone not White. I’d expect this from Abercrombie… but not yall.’
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Yet many were quick to defend Sydney, branding the backlash ‘unhinged’.
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The post Sydney Sweeney Defended Against ‘Woke’ Backlash as Her New Jeans Campaign Is Accused of Promoting ‘White Supremacy’ appeared first on American Renaissance.
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