Ted Cruz calls Sydney Sweeney 'beautiful' amid furious 'woke' backlash for her jeans campaign
American Eagle has been under fire for days after running a 'racially charged' ad featuring actress Sydney Sweeney being described as 'Nazi propaganda.'
'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' a tagline in one of the videos featuring the blonde-haired, blue-eyed 27-year-old reads.
After the launch, many social media users, particularly on the video-sharing platform TikTok, voiced their disapproval of the messaging they viewed as racially charged.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who regularly rages against ' woke culture' inserted himself in the drama.
He wrote on X: 'Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women. I'm sure that will poll well….'
Social media users were intrigued by Cruz's decision to comment on the controversy.
An X user posting under the handle @williamclaybags told Cruz, 'there's literally no reason for you to comment on this story.'
'Just a little self-exposure out of you. You see things through the optics of a vote. Interesting,' wrote another with the username @ColeJJones.
Others, meanwhile, recalled an incident that occurred when now-President Donald Trump attacked the appearance of Cruz's wife Heidi during the 2016 GOP presidential primary.
'Why didn't you stand up for Heidi Ruiz (your wife) like this when @realDonaldTrump called her ugly?' asked X user @mondalerobinson. , asking why the senator's wife didn't get the same defense he has provided Sweeney.
'Remember when Trump said your wife was beyond busted and you were like Sir Yes Sir! Lol' mused X user @chudbastard.
White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung also stepped in Tuesday afternoon to defend the ad from criticism.
'Cancel culture run amok. This warped, moronic, and dense liberal thinking is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024. They're tired of this bull**t' Cheung wrote on his official X account.
The reference to Sweeney's 'genes' didn't sit well with many people on social media, who accused the ads of being a racial dog whistle.
Despite the loud backlash, the double-entendre has seemingly resonated, with American Eagle stock up more than 11 percent since last Wednesday, with a notable spike the day the commercials were released.
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.'
But American Eagle Chief Marketing Officer Craig Brommers has a decidedly different explanation for what the company was trying to accomplish with the ads featuring Sweeney.
According to Brommers, Sweeney is one of the most recognizable young people in the world.
He said he and others thought putting her face in ads right before the back-to-school season would be a winning strategy.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Born in the USA: Is American Eagle really using whiteness to sell jeans?
American Eagle is a US-founded fashion brand that sells jeans, shrunken 'baby' T-shirts and cropped sweatshirts to predominantly tween and teenage girls. On TikTok, users gush about their clothes in outfit-of-the-day posts or shopping hauls. This week, however, the brand found itself facing backlash over its new campaign, starring the 27-year-old White Lotus and Euphoria actor Sydney Sweeney, in which critics are alleging American Eagle uses the language of eugenics to try to sell denim. The campaign depicts Sweeney in a denim shirt and baggy jeans provocatively posing as a male voice says: 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.' In one now-viral clip, Sweeney is filmed pasting a campaign poster on to a billboard. The poster's text reads 'Sydney Sweeney has great genes jeans'. In another video that has since been removed from American Eagle's social media channels, Sweeney, who has blond hair and blue eyes, says: 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality, and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.' Critics were quick to point out the implications of the advert's wordplay. In one video that has had more than 3m views, a TikTok user compared it to 'fascist propaganda,' adding: 'a blonde haired, blue-eyed white woman is talking about her good genes, like, that is Nazi propaganda'. On the brand's own channels, users are battling it out in the comments section. 'It's giving 'Subtle 1930's Germany',' reads one. Another person posted: 'The woke crowd needs to leave the room.' Even the US senator Ted Cruz has weighed in. Reposting a news story on X, he commented: 'Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women. I'm sure that will poll well ...' According to Sophie Gilbert, a staff writer at the Atlantic and author of the book Girl on Girl which explores how pop culture is shaped by misogyny: 'The slogan 'Sydney Sweeney has good jeans' obviously winks at the obsession with eugenics that's so prevalent among the modern right.' Dr Sarah Cefai, a senior lecturer in gender and cultural studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, agrees. 'Honestly, what were they thinking, that a white supremacist fantasy has permission to be aired so conspicuously?' Aria Halliday, an associate professor in gender and women's studies, African American and Africana studies and author of Buy Black: How Black Women Transformed US Pop Culture, isn't surprised by the ad. In recent years, she says, 'we have seen an influx of media reasserting the beauty of thin, white, blond, and blue-eyed people,' with many brands 'invested in re-presenting the wholesomeness and sanctity of conservative white values.' Critics have also zeroed in on the campaign's focus on Sweeney's body. In one clip the camera zooms in on the actor's breasts – lingering in a way that Gilbert sees as 'leering and unapologetic' – as Sweeney says: 'My body's composition is determined by my jeans.' The camera then cuts back to Sweeney's face as she shouts: 'Hey, eyes up here!' For Cefai, 'its sexualisation of the viewer via its voyeurism exposes western sexism as a racialised fantasy of whiteness'. American Eagle were approached for comment by the Guardian but did not respond. Fashion campaigns are notorious for purposefully sparking controversy, but the denim genre is a particularly seedy seam. In a 1980s Calvin Klein campaign, a 15-year-old Brooke Shields mused: 'You know what gets between me and my Calvin's? Nothing.' In 1995, another Calvin Klein ad featured models including Kate Moss being filmed in a basement as they undid the top button of their jeans and were asked: 'Are you nervous?' It was criticised for alluding to child exploitation. The American Eagle campaign comes at a time when the US is witnessing a cultural shift centering whiteness as well as more conservative gender roles, while the Maga movement has been linked with promoting a 'soft eugenics' way of thinking. In 2025, there are new factors reinforcing old stereotypes. For Halliday, the rise of GLP-1 medications for weight loss and the record high unemployment of Black women in the US all feed into a wider cultural shift that is 'about recentering whiteness as what America is and who Americans look like.' Some fashion imagery is reflecting this wider regression. The blacklisted photographer Terry Richardson is shooting for magazines and brands again, while Dov Charney, whose role as CEO of American Apparel was terminated after allegations of sexual misconduct, is now making content for his new brand that resembles the heavily sexualised noughties style of his former brand's advertising. For American Eagle, a brand whose biggest demographic is 15- to 25-year-old females, to tailor their campaign to the male gaze seems retrograde, if not downright creepy. However, Jane Cunningham, co-author of Brandsplaining: Why Marketing is (Still) Sexist and How to Fix It, says many gen Z-ers who are fed a 'hypersexualised visual diet' on social media may buy into the strategy. 'Their attitude may be that they are 'owning' their sexuality by being overtly sexual in the way they present,' she says, pointing to the pop star Sabrina Carpenter as another example of someone who has also been accused of catering to the heterosexual male gaze. Sign up to Fashion Statement Style, with substance: what's really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved after newsletter promotion Halliday says that while 'Black girls are rarely the target audience for ads,' some may still be curious to try the jeans: 'the desire to be perceived as beautiful is hard to ignore,' she says. Many gen Z-ers may not have experienced this genre of advertising, or 'intentional provocation as branding strategy', before, says Gilbert, for whom the campaign also reminds her of 90s Wonderbra ads with their 'Hello Boys' slogan. But maybe they will come to see through it. They are 'extremely savvy as consumers', she points out. 'They have the kind of language and expertise in terms of deconstructing media that I couldn't have dreamed of utilising as a teen during the 1990s. And they know when someone is trying to play them, which seems to be happening here. She adds: 'It all feels like it was cooked up in a conference room to provoke maximum controversy and maximum outrage, and to get maximum attention.' And it seems – in the business sense at least – to be working. Since the campaign launched, American Eagle's stock has shot up almost 18%. To read the complete version of this newsletter – complete with this week's trending topics in The Measure – subscribe to receive Fashion Statement in your inbox every Thursday.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Sydney Sweeney is defended by American Eagle after their ads are called 'Nazi propaganda' by woke mob
Sydney Sweeney has been defended by American Eagle after she was slammed for appearing in their controversial ad campaign. The A-list actress, 27, is the face of the label's autumn advertising rollout, which has the tagline, 'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.' On Friday American Eagle said the Euphoria actress did nothing wrong with their ads after they were branded 'Nazi propaganda' by woke critics. Some saw her 'great jeans' campaign to be a remark on her genetic background which is mixed European ancestry; she grew up in rural Idaho. 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. Others found the link 'ridiculous' and thought the ads were just fine. '"Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans" is and always was about the jeans,' the company said on Instagram. 'Her jeans. her story,' it was added. 'We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.' In a series of images, the Spokane, Washington-born beauty - who is set to play boxer Christy Martin in an upcoming biopic - 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.' 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?' Some saw her 'great jeans' campaign to be a remark on her genetic background which is mixed European ancestry; she grew up in rural Idaho 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 '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.' 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."' Yet many were quick to defend Sydney, branding the backlash 'unhinged'. They shared on X/Twitter: 'I'm not sure how to say this nicely but if you think a jeans ad with a pun about Sydney Sweeney being pretty is a nazi dogwhistle you genuinely need to put the phone down for a while.'; 'everyone is seriously reading too much into this and y'all need to go take a hike or something because sydney sweeney is literally just promoting jeans, not 'nazi propaganda''; 'The claim that Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ad is pro-eugenics because of a 'good genes/jeans' pun is genuinely unhinged. It's a denim campaign, not a manifesto. Not every blonde with blue eyes is a Nazi. Some of you need a history book — and a nap'; 'You guys don't have to like Sydney Sweeney or the ways she promotes herself but don't you think comparing those Jean commercials to nazi propaganda is a tad extreme?' Daily Mail has reached out to reps for Sweeney and American Eagle for further comment on the story. Sweeney said in a July 23 news release about the fall campaign: 'There is something so effortless about American Eagle.' She said of the clothier: 'It's the perfect balance of being put-together but still feeling like yourself.' The Euphoria star continued: 'Their commitment to creating pieces that make you feel confident and comfortable in your own skin is something that resonates with me. 'It's rare to find a brand that grows with you, the way American Eagle has for generations.' The Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood actress wrapped up in saying, 'They have literally been there with me through every version of myself.' American Eagle Outfitters president Jennifer Foyle opened up about the ad campaign, which is slated to raise money for domestic violence charities, in the news release. 'This fall season, American Eagle is celebrating what makes our brand iconic – trendsetting denim that leads, never follows,' Foyle said. 'Innovative fits and endless versatility reflect how our community wears their denim: mixed, matched, layered and lived in.' The fashion executive explained why Sweeney made for the perfect focal point of the promotion. 'With Sydney Sweeney front and center, she brings the allure, and we add the flawless wardrobe for the winning combo of ease, attitude and a little mischief,' Foyle said. In terms of the charitable aspect of the ad campaign, American Eagle Outfitters is working with Crisis Text Line in an effort to provide grants for mental health support and crisis intervention. Proceeds from a special edition of The Sydney Jean will be donated to the organization. Among the related grants include a $100,000 Signature Grant posted this past February 2025 in an effort to expand programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Donald Trump vows to unleash ‘every tool in our arsenal' in price row with British drug firms
Around £16 billion was wiped off shares in the sector across Europe after the President's comments TRUMP THREAT Donald Trump vows to unleash 'every tool in our arsenal' in price row with British drug firms Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) DONALD Trump insists he will unleash 'every tool in our arsenal' if British drug companies don't cut their prices within 60 days. The US President waged war with a total of seventeen firms demanding 'binding commitments' to match the lower prices offered to developing countries. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up The move comes as the White House hit dozens of countries with a fresh slew of tariffs including punishing levies on neighbour Canada. Two UK drug firms, AstraZeneca and GSK, caught up in the pharma row saw their share price drop as Trump aims to lower prices for American citizens. The move could even have damaging consequences for the NHS whose leverage with suppliers due to its size could be reduced. Mr Trump has demanded the firms apply their 'most favoured nation' rates to Medicaid which is the health system for low-income Americans. READ MORE ON DONALD TRUMP GOT TRUMPED Moment Trump 'throws shade' at Meghan and Harry during Starmer press conference He said: 'Make no mistake: a collaborative effort towards achieving global pricing parity would be the most effective path for companies, the government, and American patients. In a letter to the firms, he said: 'But if you refuse to step up we will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices. 'Americans are demanding lower drug prices, and they need them today.' Around £16 billion was wiped off shares in the sector across Europe as fears grow higher prices in the rest of the world will fund the US reductions. The move comes after Trump said back in May that he wanted drug prices in the US to be reduced by 80 per cent. Moment Trump 'throws shade' at Meghan and Harry during Starmer press conference But experts appeared wary that he has the authority to reduce prices and a previous effort in his first term failed in court. At the time, he said the tactics were 'subsidising socialism' abroad in paying for the same pills from the same factories, which led to spiralling prices at home. The warning came as Mr Trump signed an executive order applying a wave of tariffs to 68 countries and the European Union. Canada was hit with levies – up to 35 per cent from 25 per cent - due to its lack of co-operation in stopping flow of illegal drugs and fentanyl into America. Their PM Mark Carney said that his country was 'making historic investments in border security to arrest drag traffickers and end migrant smuggling'. Switzerland will also keep negotiating with the US after their tariff rate hit 39 per cent, which was far higher than they anticipated.
