American Eagle Pays Sydney Sweeney to Wear Jeans, Deliver Low-Key Racist Monologue

If that line made you wince, you’re not alone.

Comments rolled in fast and hard. “Is she out of money??” one viewer asked, capturing the general confusion.

Others took it further, connecting the “blue genes”/“blue blood” double entendre to eugenics and elite whiteness. 

“‘My genes are blue’ ‘Blue blood‘ = aristocracy, purity, whiteness, elite lineage. Also seen in Spaniard historic references as ‘Sangre Azul’ specifically speaking on eugenics,” another person commented.

“As someone who works in advertising, I feel like there just weren't enough diverse people in the room to say 'maybe the blonde haired blue eyed girl talking about good genes isnt the best script right now,” a third person said in the comments. 

You think?

Critics have called out the campaign for echoing unsettling themes of racial purity, saying it feels more propaganda than pants promo. Others drew comparisons to a Calvin Klein spot from 1980, in which a teenage Brooke Shields delivers lines using the same genes/jeans homonym.

Meanwhile, defenders are baffled by the backlash. “It’s just a pun,” someone commented on a critique of the campaign. And American Eagle’s share price climbed 18 percent after it came out. 

Still, the internet never fails to turn drama into comedy. TikTok users are now spoofing the ad with over-the-top sultry monologues, mocking Sweeney’s delivery, the odd phrasing, and the wildly questionable concept of selling denim through a genetics lecture.

“Jeans are passed down from parent to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, eye color, and even how grating the sound of your voice is,” TikTok user @thegingerbeerd said in his spoof. “I’m Sydney Sweeney and I’m white. I mean I have great jeans.”

“This is exactly what she sounded like to me 😭,” someone commented.