JD Vance latest GOP politician to enter Syndey Sweeney jeans ad debate
Vice President JD Vance became the latest Republican politician to weigh in on a controversial American Eagle ad featuring Sweeney that critics argued promoted eugenics.
"My political advice to the Democrats is continue to (call) everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi," Vance joked during an episode of the conservative "Ruthless" podcast on Friday, Aug. 1. "That appears to be their actual strategy."
The Nazi party used the pseudoscience of eugenics, which promotes some genetic features as better than others, to justify the killing of Jews and countless other minority groups during the Holocaust.
Sydney Sweeney dishes on the best jeans, her favorite rom-com and what's on her playlist
American Eagle's campaign, which has spawned a fierce cultural debate, used wordplay to describe Sweeney, 27, as having "good genes," a wordplay to promote the brand's denim jeans. Critics have said the ad blitz amounts to a glorification of whiteness and a dog whistle for racist ideologies. But her supporters have said the ad is meant to be a light-hearted wordplay, defending the "Euphoria" actress and the brand.
Sweeney previously told USA TODAY that denim was a staple of her wardrobe, but left out AE in her list of favored brands at the time.
"I'm very much a white, plain T-shirt kind of girl. I jump around from a bunch of different brands and that kind of depends on what vibe I want to go for," she said. "I have my Levi's white T-shirts and my Cotton On white T-shirts that are just paired with casual jeans. Jean wise: I mean, I love Levi's, Frame, Agolde."
Sydney Sweeney controversy, explained
In one of several videos for AE, Sweeney, clad in a denim-on-denim outfit, says: "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color."
"My jeans are blue," she says as the camera pans across her blue denim and her blue eyes. Soon after the campaign dropped, people began to sound the alarm on what they saw as a dangerous message about the beauty ideal, race and "good" versus "bad" genes.
Vance, though, chalked the whole ordeal up to an overreaction from the "left" and a doubling down on a strategy that he thinks lost the Democrats the 2024 presidential election.
Dunkin' ad about 'genetics' draws comparisons to Sydney Sweeney drama
"I actually thought that one of the lessons (Democrats) might take is 'we're going to be less crazy.' And the lesson they have apparently taken is 'we're going to attack people as Nazis for thinking Sydney Sweeney is beautiful,'" he said on the podcast. "Great strategy, guys. That's how you're going to win the midterm, especially young American men."
The ad's critics, however, argued that a campaign selling jeans to women should not have been shot so clearly from the male gaze. Some consumers were quick to point out what they saw as the regressive nature of the material: A buxom blonde woman drawing attention to her body and employing a sensual tone, they argued, calling back to a stereotypical symbol of a bygone era.
"Wasn't she the one who said she didn't want to be seen as an object?" one commenter asked on Sweeney's Instagram page, while another chided: "We can leave Nazi Germany back where it got conquered ty next!!!"
Sweeney has not yet spoken out about the controversy, though several prominent members of the GOP have chimed in on her behalf. Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, for instance, took to X on July 29 to blast the left for criticizing the ad.
"Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women. I'm sure that will poll well…." he wrote.
White House's communications director Steven Cheung, a longtime adviser for President Donald Trump, also maligned the criticism, calling it "cancel culture run amok."
"This warped, moronic and dense liberal thinking is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024," he wrote on X July 29, adding that people are "tired" of this way of thinking.
But, when a second ad campaign, this time from Dunkin', dropped featuring the same "genetic" themes, many critics felt vindicated, arguing that it signaled a greater cultural shift toward genetic hierarchy and racism.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sydney Sweeney drama: JD Vance addresses American Eagle ad controversy
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