Editorial note: This article was originally published on July 28, 2025. We are republishing it now with updated information.
Actress Sydney Sweeney is no stranger to controversy and harsh online discourse. In 2023, the 27-year-old “Euphoria” and “Anyone But You” star received pushback for throwing her mother a surprise birthday party where attendees donned MAGA-style hats and shirts with the phrase “Blue Lives Matter.” Sweeney was criticized online earlier this summer after attending Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s blowout wedding in Venice. She has also been widely and disgustingly body-shamed, particularly for her breast size, since her rise to fame.
The latest backlash against Sweeney, a popular clothing retailer and potential Nazism came this past summer; and as Sweeney just now responded to it, this controversy has clearly had staying power.
It’s time to talk good genes, good jeans and eugenics.
So, what happened?
On July 23, clothing brand American Eagle released a fall ad campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney. Geared towards the company’s limited edition “Sydney Jean” denim collection, the tagline of the campaign is “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.” The slogan is a play on the idea of someone having great genes, or, in other words, having genetics which make them attractive.
Importantly, it’s clear that AE is purposefully playing into the good jeans/good genes pun. In one reel posted to social media, Sweeney papers a giant advertisement on a New York City street. Initially, the poster reads “Sydney Sweeney Has Good Genes.” The end of the video reveals that “Genes” has been crossed out to read “Jeans.”
In a now-deleted social media reel, the comparison is even more explicit (and, frankly, weird). “Genes are passed down from parent to offspring,” Sweeney says in her best sexy, demurring voiceover as she buttons her jeans on camera. “Often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color.”
Sweeney then stares down the camera, “My genes[/jeans] are blue.”
@leakdaily Replying to @marissaalee_ She still going #sydneysweeney #euphoria #everythingsucks #zendaya #kateupton #gemmaarterton #haydenpanettiere #alisonbrie #cassiehoward #brielarson #kaleycuoco #gemmaatkinson #annehathaway #elishacuthbert #alexademie #salmahayek #evangelinelilly #scarlettjohansson #netflix #peytonkennedy #jacobelordi #euphoriaedit #hunterschafer #emalineaddario #everythingsucksedit #maddyperez #sydneysweeneyedit #natejacobs #barbieferreira #maudeapatow #americaneagle
In another now-deleted video, the camera pans on Sweeney’s cleavage as she says, “My body’s composition is determined by my genes.”
What has the public reaction been?
On July 24, Reuters reported that American Eagle stock rose 10% after they unveiled the Sydney Sweeney ad campaign. However, there has been quite a bit of online criticism about the campaign. Some feel it plays directly into the male gaze. Others find the biggest issues are its tagline — and specifically the now-deleted videos — paired with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white woman such as Sydney Sweeney. These critics claim it is a dog whistle that promotes Nazi propaganda, white supremacy and eugenics.
The most viral criticism came from trans Jewish comedian Ella Yurman on X, who subsequently received an onslaught of antisemitic and transphobic hatred directed at her.
Here are a handful of other criticisms from X, Instagram and TikTok:
@midwesterngothic american eagle sidney sweeney ads: let’s chat #hehim #midwesterngothic #transmasc #advertising #marketing #friendthatstoowoke #sidneysweeney #propoganda #fyp #ooc
So… does the ad campaign promote Nazi propaganda?
Well, it doesn’t not do that.
For context, eugenics, per the National Human Genome Research Institute, is “the scientifically inaccurate theory that humans can be improved through selective breeding of populations.” So basically, eugenics was all about people with “good genes” breeding, and people with “bad genes” not breeding.
Despite eugenics now being debunked, it was a popular field of study in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. In the United States, it was used as justification to forcibly sterilize disabled people, Black people and Indigenous people.
All that to say, the Nazis loved eugenics!
I humbly request a more explicit connection between eugenics and Nazism.
Can do!
Per the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “During the Third Reich, a politically extreme, antisemitic variation of eugenics determined the course of state policy. Hitler’s regime touted the ‘Nordic race’ as its eugenic ideal and attempted to mold Germany into a cohesive national community that excluded anyone deemed hereditarily ‘less valuable’ or ‘racially foreign.’”
As a direct result of their eugenics program, the Nazis murdered Jews, disabled people and/or people with mental illness, Roma people, LGBTQ+ people and people of Slavic origin, among others.
Has anyone defended the campaign?
Yes. The biggest defender of the campaign has been President Donald Trump. “Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the HOTTEST ad out there,” he wrote on Truth Social on Aug. 4. “Go get ’em Sydney!” Vice President JD Vance also mocked critics of the campaign.
Online, some claim that those offended or worried by the American Eagle x Sydney Sweeney “Great Jeans” campaign are too woke, too “online” and/or jealous of Sweeney.
And there are undoubtedly people out there who like the campaign for, well, Nazi reasons.
Have either Sydney Sweeney or American Eagle responded to the criticism?
On Aug. 1, American Eagle doubled down on the ad. They said that the campaign “is and always was about the jeans.” “Her jeans. Her story,” the company wrote in a statement on Instagram.
After months of silence, Sweeney finally opened up about the controversial campaign in a Nov. 4 interview with GQ. “I did a jean ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life,” Sweeney told the magazine. “It was surreal,” she added, that President Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly defended her.
When the reporter followed up to ask whether she wanted to say anything about the ad itself, Sweeney responded, “I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.”
You can read her full comments in the article.
TL;DR
American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney have indirectly denied supporting Nazism, white supremacy and eugenics on purpose. But given the history of Nazism and eugenics, and the current global trend towards authoritarianism and fascism, it is concerning that a popular clothing company and A-list actress would market themselves with a pun on the phrase “great genes.”
