American Eagle Responds to Critics Over Ad With Sydney Sweeney
In a statement posted on American Eagle's Instagram account on Friday, the retailer said the ad campaign 'is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.'
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Megyn Kelly rips Beyoncé's new Levi's ad: ‘Opposite' of Sydney Sweeney
Conservative pundit Megyn Kelly knocked singer-songwriter Beyoncé over a new ad campaign promoting Levi jeans. 'This is the opposite of the Sydney Sweeney ad. Quite clearly there is nothing natural about Beyonce,' Kelly wrote in a post on the social platform X. 'Everything — from her image to her fame to her success to her look below — is bought and paid for,' she added. 'Screams artificial, fake, enhanced, trying too hard.' Beyoncé's company this week posted a video teasing an ad campaign for Levi jeans featuring the pop icon, whose recent album features a song titled 'LEVII'S JEANS.' The Levi campaign comes in the midst of an ongoing cultural debate about a campaign American Eagle rolled out last month promoting its jeans featuring actor Sydney Sweeny. Critics have slammed the American Eagle campaign, arguing it has racist undertones. President Trump defended Sweeney over her participation in the campaign, arguing its success shows being 'WOKE is for losers.' Kelly, a former cable news host and political analyst, is a staunch supporter of Trump and often uses her popular podcast to weigh in on pop culture, entertainment and other issues outside the political realm. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
She got in trouble as a teen in New York City, but in Bangkok, she became a beauty queen
Metinee Kingpayome arrived in Bangkok on her 20th birthday. Born in Maryland and raised in New York City by Thai immigrant parents, Kingpayome had only visited Thailand twice as a child. That trip back to Thailand in 1992 marked more than just a birthday milestone; it marked the beginning of her new life. "It was something special," Kingpayome, now 53, told Business Insider. "Something that would change my life forever." Troubled teenage years Raised in a working-class neighborhood in Queens, Kingpayome was around 9 when her parents separated. As the oldest of four — and the only daughter — she often took on the responsibility of looking after the house. "My brothers were still quite young, so I had to help my mom at a very young age," Kingpayome said. She spent her childhood in a tight-knit Thai-American community, and her mother enrolled her in Sunday school to help her learn Thai. At home, her mom spoke to her in their native language. "She was very traditional, and she tried to raise me in that way," Kingpayome said. "We clashed a lot. You spend 16 hours a day speaking English, living the Western life, and then you come home, and your mom is super strict." Her teenage years were especially rough. By 14, she was getting into trouble and clashing with her mother. She barely made it through high school. A wake-up call came when the boy she was dating in her late teens got arrested. Working a dead-end job as a waitress in a Thai restaurant, she knew something had to change. "I just felt like, OK, this is not working out. There's got to be more," Kingpayome said. She'd always been drawn to fashion and decided to try modeling. But in the early '90s, the industry favored blonde hair and blue eyes — a beauty standard that she didn't fit. Determined not to give up, she decided to give Thailand a whirl. Just for six months, she told herself. She booked a one-way ticket, moved in with an aunt, and entered a beauty pageant. Several months later, she won Miss Thailand World 1992. An unexpected beauty queen Kingpayome says she didn't intend to be a beauty queen, but modeling was competitive. "I thought that would be a very good stepping stone," she said. "Pageantry was huge back in the '80s and '90s. So I entered a beauty pageant, not expecting to win, but then won." Winning the crown changed everything. She was thrust into the spotlight and, at the end of the year, represented Thailand at Miss World 1992, where she was crowned Continental Queen of Asia and Oceania. The transition from being unknown to a recognizable face was tough to navigate, especially for someone still finding her footing in a new country. Thai society was more conservative at the time, and women were generally expected to be more reserved, she said. "All of a sudden, I have to be this very proper, polite woman, and I struggled with that for a year," Kingpayome said. "Being born and growing up in the States, I was very, very vocal." Once her pageant contract was up, she started modeling. In the late '90s, Kingpayome was featured in advertising campaigns for brands such as Lux Soap and Sony. Since then, she's also appeared on the covers of the Thai editions of Vogue, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar, among many others. Kingpayome says she stood out in the industry because of her bold fashion choices, such as taking part in photoshoots while wearing swimsuits. "I felt I was part of the movement where things were starting to shift from conservative to modern," Kingpayome said. 'I was always professional' Unlike the " sabai sabai" Thai way of life, where locals often adopt a relaxed, go-with-the-flow attitude, Kingpayome said her work ethic set her apart. "If the call time's eight. I'm there at seven-thirty. It doesn't matter how hungover I am. I might look like crap, but I was there," she said. "I was always professional." Still, it took time to convince her family of her career choices, as they struggled to understand the nature of her work. It was only years later, when her mother eventually relocated to Bangkok from the US, that she began to understand, especially once Kingpayome started bringing her along to photoshoots. "She's like, oh, OK. You're not actually taking off your clothes," Kingpayome said, recalling her mother's reaction. Trading covers and catwalks for motherhood and a slower life Young, independent, and suddenly in demand, Kingpayome's life in Thailand took off. "I worked hard, but I played harder because, as a teenager, I never had that kind of life. When I left New York, I was only starting to be legal to go clubbing and stuff," she said. Everything in Thailand felt so different and new, she added. "I kind of got lost in the party scene, and my career was taking off. I was in every fashion show. I was on every cover of every magazine. It was just like, wow, oh my God, I love this life," she said In addition to modeling, she also built a successful career in show business, working as a TV presenter and appearing in numerous Thai movies and TV shows. Her fast-paced lifestyle lasted nearly a decade before she began to feel burned out and decided to slow down. In her mid-thirties, she got married and later had her son, who is now 16 and a competitive swimmer. The marriage ended in a divorce, but she still co-parents with her ex. In recent years, she's served as a mentor and judge on modeling reality shows and has coached contestants in the Miss Universe Thailand pageant. In 2021, she established a modeling academy with her brother called Muse by Metinee. "We use runway modeling as a tool to help people gain confidence. So our youngest student is 4 years old, and my oldest student, who is still with us, is 59," Kingpayome said. Many of her students are kids who have been bullied or who have low self-esteem, and seeing them break out of their shells and become more confident has been rewarding, she added. Since pageantry is still big in Thailand, she also coaches men, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community who aspire to compete. The academy has since expanded to include a modeling agency. Jack Titus, the winner of Mister Model International 2025, who also grew up straddling both American and Thai cultures, told BI that his training at the academy was "the backbone" of his performance in the pageant. "From the way we walked to the way we spoke, every moment was designed to prepare us for the world stage," Titus said. "The discipline, presence, and emotional resilience I gained at Muse played a massive role in that win." Thailand, always Over three decades later, Kingpayome is still one of Thailand's biggest stars. Parisa Pichitmarn, a millennial journalist based in Bangkok, told BI that she has always admired Kingpayome. "She comes across as a strong woman who's professional and also doesn't take any crap," Pichitmarn said. Manorat Sangsuk, a Thai Gen X finance specialist, told BI that in the '90s, a lot of the models were half Western and half Thai, and having someone who "just looked Thai" was refreshing. "She's pretty cool in her own way — you know, not like sweet, gentle, traditional Thai type." It's hard to say whether Kingpayome would have enjoyed the same level of success if she had stayed in the US. "Because you're a tiny fish in a big pond, whereas in Thailand, I was a big fish in a tiny pond. So it was very different," she said. These days, Kingpayome lives in Bangkok and considers herself to be more Thai than American. "When I go back to America, I feel I'm visiting. I don't feel like it's home," she said. She used to visit the US more often, especially when her son was younger. But now, with her mother and two of her brothers living in Thailand, there's less reason to return. Only one brother remains in New York, still living in the Queens apartment they all grew up in. Years from now, Kingpayome says she might end up living by the beach, running a small bed-and-breakfast. Or she might move to wherever her son decides to live when he gets older. "But I think my life is in Thailand," she added.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why Is the Sydney Sweeney ‘Great Jeans' American Eagle Ad Causing a Social Media Firestorm?
Photo: Courtesy of American Eagle; Glamour Composite This article was updated on August 4. If you've caught the new Sydney Sweeney 'Great Jeans' American Eagle ad, chances are you've also caught wind that there's been some controversy over it. The campaign was meant to be a cheeky play on the word jeans, which is a homophone of the word genes, but has spiraled into an online discussion about beauty standards, white supremacy, and more. So what's the deal? Do the ad's critics have a point? Or is this all a little overblown, as things tend to get on the internet? Join us for a deep dive into the controversy on the latest edition of TL;DR. Give me the TL;DR. On July 23, American Eagle launched its new fall campaign with Sweeney as the face, titled 'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.' In addition to the images, which were styled by Sweeney's regular stylist Molly Dickson, the campaign features an ad in which Sweeney defines the scientific word 'genes' while pulling on her American Eagle jeans. 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring,' Sweeney says in the clip, 'often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My genes are blue.' Then, a voice-over says the campaign's tagline, 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.' Pretty soon after it was posted online, several social media users on X, TikTok, and elsewhere criticized the ad for seemingly endorsing fat-phobic beauty standards and white supremacy. 'If you're insisting the Sydney Sweeney ad isn't a dog whistle you're either disingenuous or stupid,' wrote one person on X. Wait, I need more. What's the background here? In the press release sent by American Eagle, the campaign is described as a fun way to celebrate making people feel and look great in their AE denim. 'A truly iconic moment, Sydney brings her signature blend of cultural influence and individuality to the brand for a campaign that is highly editorialized, fresh, creative and a little bit cheeky,' the release states. It also seems to be inspired by an ad Brooke Shields once made for Calvin Klein. In that commercial, Shields, who was 15 years old at the time, describes the 'genetic code,' while also struggling to put on a pair of jeans over her silky pajama bottoms. The Calvin Klein ads have been heavily criticized for the way the underage Shields was sexualized, something she addressed to Vogue in 2021. 'I think the assumption was that I was much more savvy than I ever really was. I was a virgin, and I was a virgin forever after that,' she said. The political and cultural landscape is a lot different in 2025 than it was in 1980. For one thing, Sweeney is often an unwilling lightning rod for discussions about beauty standards and how they intersect with politics. A comedian once opined that Sweeney must have grown up politically conservative because she is blonde with big boobs, for instance. Then there was the discourse surrounding Sweeney's Dr. Squatch soap, infused with her own bathwater. Though Sweeney was attempting to take control of the objectification she's been constantly subjected to throughout her career, it was harpooned by some online as catering to the patriarchy and a backslide for the feminist cause. Anyway, in this context, the implication that Sweeney—who is blonde-haired and blue-eyed—has both great 'jeans' and great 'genes' struck some as reminiscent of eugenics. What are the arguments? One content creator on TikTok claimed that the Sweeney ad is an example of the BEIGE acronym, which stands for Boring and Engineered to Identify with Gentrification and Eugenics. Others pointed out that the campaign seemed less catered toward actual customers and more toward raising its stock price. On X, a user wrote that Sweeney is 'a great example of white supremacy being the only way a lot of people derive self esteem.' Another commented, 'That american eagle sydney sweeney campaign would not suck if they added other people to go with the 'I've got good genes/jeans' play on words instead of just a white blonde blue eyed woman.' However, plenty of other creators and users think this discourse has gotten way out of hand. Said one creator on TikTok, 'Maybe I'm not woke enough but what's the big deal?' On X, one user agreed, writing, 'I really think that the internet is doing too much with the American Eagle Sydney Sweeney jeans/genes campaign. Like it's not that serious.' Predictably, the backlash to the ad has been characterized by the right as an overreaction by the 'woke mob.' This branding of the backlash as nothing more than left-wing hysteria plays easily into partisan narratives. 'American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad triggers cancel-culture mob,' reads a headline on Fox News. Several conservative politicians have also weighed in on the backlash to the ad. 'Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women,' Senator Ted Cruz wrote on X. 'I'm sure that will poll well.' A little over a week after the ad was released, several outlets published Sweeney's alleged voter registration details. According to The Guardian, the actor has been registered as a Republican in the state of Florida since June 2024. This discovery prompted a reaction from President Trump, who told reporters on August 3, 'She's a registered Republican? Oh, now I love her ad!' 'You'd be surprised at how many people are Republicans,' he continued. 'That's what I wouldn't have known. But I'm glad you told me that. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic!' Has Sydney Sweeney or American Eagle responded to the controversy? Sweeney hasn't yet commented on the backlash. On August 1, American Eagle released the following statement: ''Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story.' The statement concludes, 'We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.' Will anyone still care about this in two weeks? This feels like the kind of controversy designed to die down in a matter of days, though this particular scandal seems to have struck a chord. Originally Appeared on Glamour Solve the daily Crossword
