Sydney Sweeny does have good genes … and they look good in jeans

Initially, it was my intention to avoid getting into Sydney Sweeney’ jeans.  I was hoping that the issue would be behind us by now.  Butt But now that the story has legs, I feel obligated to comment (and I hope to do so without my own agonizing play on words).

American Eagle launched a campaign for their line of jeans featuring rising Hollywood actress/producer Sydney Sweeney.  It was a cheeky (oops) ad, playing off the homophone (look it up if you are thinking homophobic) relationship between “jeans” and “genes.” 

The tagline for the commercial is that that very svelte and sexy Sweeney has “great jeans” – meaning the American Eagle blue denim pants, of course.  The play on words is crafted to suggest that the highly attractive Sweeney also has other great “genes”.  And she does.  Very clever.  An attention grabber.  The person who came up with the idea for the commercial deserves a bonus.

To many on the  radical left, the ad was not just clever wordplay—it was a wink toward genetic superiority. Critics argued that featuring a blonde-haired, blue-eyed White woman in a campaign that flirts with the idea of “great genes” evokes eugenicist undertones – a pseudoscience that was last seen in the 1930s.

For those who did  not see the ads as just another clever contribution from Madison Avenue, the outrage ensued. It was the kind of outrage that only the unhinged, divorced from reality, woke obsessed, perma-pissed left-wingers could produce.  No sooner had the ad hit the market than the tin hat folks took to social media with an array of painfully concocted fanciful theories about the sinister subliminal meanings carried in the marketing message as a copywriter’s Trojan Horse.  “That’s eugenics!” “White supremacy!” “Body shaming!” “Genetic elitism!” “A coded message from the Fourth Reich!”, they cried.

The mere suggestion that the implied humorous message was a compliment to Sweeney’s DNA had the zombies of the woke community seeing racism.  Complimenting one’s genes – at least White female genes — has suddenly become a social, cultural and political no-no – a hate crime.

And it is all because Sweeney is … White (and beautiful).  Perhaps there would not have been as much blowback if American Eagle had chosen a model the opposite of Sweeney. Someone who is … say … Black, old and less attractive by most people’s standards.  (Did Whoopi Goldberg just pop into your mind, too.)   

There likely would not have been the outrage, but American Eagle would have sold a lot fewer jeans.  In 2025, suggesting that a specific White woman is good looking – has great genes – is no longer a compliment.  It is a racist dog whistle and a hate crime, according to those who see and promote imaginary racism as an evergreen partisan political strategy.

For those who check under their beds each night, the ad is yet another attempt to promote White privilege.  It is as logical as accusing people who prefer vanilla ice cream of being racists.

According to one tweeter, “This ad is a textbook example of how White beauty standards are weaponized to uphold systemic oppression.” Another claimed that, “Sydney Sweeney’s ‘great genes’ are a slap in the face to every marginalized body.” (I am betting on a fat person for that one.)  A third sounds like a permanent resident of the liberal arts academic community.  “This campaign is a capitalist celebration of eugenic aesthetics.”  Which just goes to show that even an overeducated mind is a terrible thing to waste.

The backlash reached such lofty heights of absurdity that even real geneticists weighed in. One wrote an op-ed titled “The Dangerous Implications of Celebrating Genes in Fashion Advertising.” Another appeared on a podcast to explain how the ad “normalizes the commodification of hereditary privilege.” I am not sure what that means, but it sounds impressive.

Meanwhile, Sweeney has been caught in the crossfire. She did not write the ad. She did not direct it. She just wore the jeans and smiled for the camera. But that was enough to trigger a full-blown character assassination. Suddenly, she was being accused of promoting anti-feminist fascism with her face – or more honestly, with her butt. Her family’s political leanings were dredged up. Her Instagram likes were scrutinized. Her entire being has been put on trial in the court of public opinion without just cause.

Since nothing Sweeney could say would satisfy the woke lynch mob, she has wisely remained relatively silent – allowing the media spotlight to move on to some new anal retentive issue, as it will.  But not just yet.  The TikTok outrage continues and Change.org has a petition demanding that American Eagle “apologize for its complicity in genetic discrimination.”

(Hmmm.  I wonder if the name of the sponsor, American Eagle, is what is getting the left’s feathers ruffled?  After all, anti-patriotism is in the genes of the flag burning radical left.  Just a thought.  But I digress.)

Despite the backlash, American Eagle’s stock surged more than 20 percent following the campaign’s release – and jeans sales are skyrocketing. Some conservatives celebrated the ad as a cultural win, mocking liberal outrage.  One can see it as yet another example of the left’s excessive and crazy criticism creating a backlash.

So here’s my modest proposal. Let us all take a deep breath and remember that not everything is a conspiracy. Let us allow people to be attractive without accusing them of genocide. And let us stop pretending that every marketing campaign is a referendum on human rights.  Sweeney does have good genes – and they look good in American Eagle jeans.  If that offends you, maybe the problem isn’t her — maybe it’s your inability to distinguish between a compliment and a coup.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go buy a pair of American Eagle jeans. Not because they will make me look good, but because buying them will make me feel good.

So, there ‘tis.

The post Sydney Sweeny does have good genes … and they look good in jeans appeared first on The Punching Bag Post.