‘My jeans are yellow': Tiffany Fong's 'great genes' denim satire serves Sydney Sweeney ad with an Asian twist

Time of India

2 days ago

Sydney Sweeney and the great 'jeans' genes controversy
Live Events
Right-wing figures rally to Sweeney's defence
Who is Tiffany Fong and why does it matter?
Sydney Sweeney: Accidental icon of the Right
From runway to rifle range
Silence as a statement
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
Tiffany Fong has reignited the internet's ongoing debate over race, beauty, and politics with one sharp video and a head-to-toe yellow denim outfit. In a clip uploaded to her followers, the influencer mimicked American Eagle's now-infamous advert featuring Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney. But her version came with chopsticks, rice, and a clear message."Handed down by my parents before me and their parents before them, my genes are yellow," Fong says in the video. She adds that there's no wordplay intended. She meant jeans, not genes. It was, in her words, 'the Asian version of the American Eagle ad.'That single sentence opened a fresh wave of online reactions, building on the heated response that has followed the original campaign since it launched.The American Eagle advert that started it all was simple on the surface. Sweeney, wearing fitted denim and a blank expression, says to camera: 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My genes are blue.'Some viewers saw an innocent pun. Others saw something far more loaded.Critics online, especially from progressive spaces, quickly accused the campaign of echoing eugenicist ideas. A blonde, blue-eyed Hollywood actress claiming 'great genes' didn't sit lightly in an America already deeply fractured over issues of race and identity. Posts comparing the ad to white supremacist propaganda started circulating. Satirical accounts wrote lines like, 'Are they selling pants or the master race?'American Eagle, facing mounting criticism, released a statement defending the campaign's intent. ''Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' 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,' the brand said.If the outrage online was sharp, the counter-response was just as swift. Conservative voices quickly painted the backlash as proof of liberal overreach. To them, the furore was absurd, even dangerous.Vice President JD Vance entered the fray, saying, 'And it's like, you guys, did you learn nothing from the November 2024 election? Like I actually thought that one of the lessons they might take is we're going to be less crazy. The lesson they have apparently taken is we're going to attack people as Nazis for thinking Sydney Sweeney is beautiful. Great strategy, guys.'He added, 'That's how you're going to win the midterm, especially young American men. Their course correction lasts about 30 seconds.'Senator Ted Cruz also weighed in on X, posting: 'Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women. I'm sure that will poll well.'Inside the White House, some officials reportedly saw the backlash as a political gift, painting the Left as out of touch with younger voters and overly obsessed with political correctness.Fong, who first gained public attention through cryptocurrency circles, made headlines last year for a very different reason. A Wall Street Journal report revealed she had refused an alleged offer from Tesla CEO Elon Musk to bear his child.At the time, Musk had been engaging with her posts on X, even following her account. That connection led to a surge in followers for Fong and helped her earn $21,000 in just two weeks under the platform's revenue-sharing programme. After she declined the reported offer, Musk unfollowed her.Her latest video is being celebrated across social media as a timely and biting satire, but it also marks her shift into a wider cultural conversation. Fong's parody worked not just as humour but as commentary on identity, representation, and what people read into silence—or denim.What makes Sweeney such a compelling figure in this debate is how little she has actually said.In 2025, simply existing without making political declarations is enough to get dragged into the culture war. Sweeney's Republican voter registration, discovered earlier this year, did more to shift perceptions than any public statement ever could. She didn't post about it. She didn't wear party merchandise. She just filed the paperwork in Florida.The Right celebrated. The Left demanded answers. Sweeney stayed quiet.For conservatives, she represented everything they felt Hollywood was missing: a talented young woman who didn't apologise for who she was. To progressives, her silence looked like a statement in itself.The cultural momentum around Sweeney kept building when a video of her at a shooting range surfaced online. Wearing earmuffs and casual clothes, she confidently fired a Glock at a target.No political message. No context. Just steady aim and a camera.Conservative corners of the internet exploded. 'Sydney Sweeney: America's New Annie Oakley,' one user wrote. Another said, 'She can shoot AND act? Wife me.'It was the perfect contrast to Hollywood's progressive stereotype. While many celebrities are expected to voice support for causes, Sweeney did something else: she stood still.What makes Sweeney so politically potent is exactly what she doesn't do.She doesn't tweet about climate change. She doesn't post about voting rights. She doesn't hold signs or wear badges. She just carries on—working, filming, and occasionally appearing in adverts that take on lives of their own.In an age of loud opinions, her quietness has become symbolic. Her silence is seen by conservatives as strength, a refusal to play along with Hollywood's expectations. To liberals, it often reads as avoidance or passive alignment.But to millions watching, she has become something new: a post-woke celebrity.This is what the denim ad really exposed: the battle to assign meaning where none may have been intended.Sweeney has never said she is right-wing. She has never claimed to represent anyone's movement. Yet the culture around her refuses to let her remain neutral.Tiffany Fong's video didn't just mock a brand campaign. It highlighted how tightly wound these debates have become, how every image, every phrase, every silence gets picked apart.One actress wears jeans. One influencer wears yellow. And suddenly, two women are at the centre of a national argument about race, politics, and the politics of existing.Sweeney has not spoken since the backlash erupted. No tweets. No clarifications. No public apology. Just more work. More photoshoots. More scripts.And that, in 2025, is perhaps the most radical thing she could have done.She didn't ask to be a symbol. But in a culture war that runs on projection, even silence can be political.