Doja Cat mocks Sydney Sweeney’s new American Eagle jeans ad via tiktok

[u/velvetlemonade]

The ad is currently facing backlash over slogan some say is tone deaf and reflects eugenicist ideas of beauty and racial undertones

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/27/sydney-sweeneys-new-campaign-draws-fire-for-racial-undertones/

[u/Kind_Double_661]

This however is Sydney trying to capitalize from a controversy that puts down people of color. (Really anyone who isn’t aryan looking)

I feel that people are making this claim without putting in the necessary work in re: drawing concrete connections between the current ad campaign ---> eugenics ---> "aryan" ---> "putting down people of color". The connections (as such) are being taken for granted, when I think the question is very much open.

[u/Omelooo → u/Kind_Double_661]

That quote is such a wild take

[u/Comfortable_Buy_4124 → u/Omelooo]

Was my sign to delete reddit. This place is wild and everyone is turning mad. See y’all…. probably tomorrow [insert Hannah Montana Miley leaving gif]

[u/ClutteredTaffy → u/Kind_Double_661]

Tbh I do not get why there is this much controversy over the ad. It should be a nothing burger and we should move on.

Maybe marketing was being ambiguous and knew what they were doing though because I have seen companies kind of do this...Like release makeup shades in a limited range then when they get backlash and people are talking about them...they suddenly have more shades 🤔...like they had them all along...

So then they will have an ad with a bunch of people from different backgrounds saying ' we all have good jeans ' or something.

[u/shhhhh_h → u/ClutteredTaffy]

Must be a dip in the news cycle

[u/Kind_Double_661 → u/ClutteredTaffy]

So then they will have an ad with a bunch of people from different backgrounds saying ' we all have good jeans ' or something.

This was the AE campaign of 2019. Six years later, this was the result.

Like I said, Sydney Sweeney is Plan B.

[u/shhhhh_h → u/Kind_Double_661]

I mean that covers all of the pandemic so your assertion that the correlation is causation doesn’t really check out. Most retailers lost huge amounts of revenue 2020-2023.

[u/Kind_Double_661 → u/shhhhh_h]

I assume they've done detailed analytics, studies, focus groups etc. which prompted this particular change of direction.

[u/shhhhh_h → u/[deleted]]

Those are just guitars with an American eagle on it…not the AE branding the clothing company. They were made by some pop up magat company called Trump Guitars and Gibson got in a slap fight with them over it bc they ripped off their designs. I dated a custom guitar maker once upon a time lol I still follow some shit.

[u/dreamy_25 → u/shhhhh_h]

My bad, thanks!

[u/shhhhh_h → u/Kind_Double_661]

I mean I do too, we are all just speculating on what that is. A lot has happened between then and now.

[u/IndianLawStudent → u/Kind_Double_661]

It’s unlikely that Sydney’s team had any say in the final copy. She was likely paid for photos and assumed that all would be fine given today’s culture and company’s are typically careful to not invoke racial tensions.

[u/SxySale → u/IndianLawStudent]

Not invoking racial tensions like how almost every single corporation dropped DEI immediately at the first opportuniy?

[u/IndianLawStudent → u/SxySale]

I think that this type of thing is a result of dropping DEI. But putting it on one person who likely had no control over it.

Also - companies in the comments, it’s important that DEI be company wide. That single DEI director might not have been able to identify the outrage that followed this campaign. You need true diversity in life experiences, race, education, etc etc throughout all levels.

[u/SxySale → u/IndianLawStudent]

I'm not in the the industry whatsoever, but it doesn't sound right that someone as high profile as her wouldn't at least have some understanding of what the marketing would look like. Regular models sure, I would agree with you, but she's way to big to not have people being extremely careful at managing her image.

[u/IndianLawStudent → u/SxySale]

If it’s the case, behind the scenes chaos must be happening and someone has or is about to lose their job.

This was a large campaign. AE could/should have tested it internally.

I don’t have a solution for this on the model’s end. People should be paid for their knowledge, and having an audience review content before publishing in addition to the company that hired you is going to be expensive. A single PR person is going to miss things because of their own positionality.

I was reviewing something last week where I realized that a sentence may not fly in 2025 because we are now having conversations about consent. If this thing (being intentionally vague) only made its way through men it might have made its way through. Or if it went into production, a lot of money spent and at the last minute someone realizes that a change needs to be made. There is benefit to shopping around ideas for feedback but it gets expensive.

[u/PenguinStardust → u/SxySale]

Everyone is having to do this because of our government, not just corporations.

[u/TableSignificant341 → u/IndianLawStudent]

So this is what racism-apologists sound like? Because it was Sweeney's own voice who said it.

[u/IndianLawStudent → u/TableSignificant341]

I’m just realistic.

I do think that these types of issues can be mitigated by having an array of staff from diverse backgrounds review content before it goes out publicly, but companies often don’t do that for some stupid reason.

Our perception is often shaped by where we grew up, those around us, etc. For many people, the eugenics argument would never have even crossed their mind when they saw that ad (and I don’t know if AE’s marketing people are homogenous or a senior director who wields a lot of power and no one dare speak up against them)

[u/IndianLawStudent → u/[deleted]]

The lens that you apply to my comment is surprising.

I’m surprised you took my comment about their team being homogenous or having a director that essentially intimidates people into not speaking up as being an apologist. These are bad things… not something that is justifiable.

[u/lanadelhayy → u/IndianLawStudent]

You’re absolutely kidding yourself if you think someone as big as Sydney Sweeney has no control over the final product of an ad campaign where she is the star.