Actress Sydney Sweeney's new jeans advert sparks wild claims about it being ‘nazi propaganda'

7NEWS

5 days ago

Actress Sydney Sweeney's new clothing campaign has sparked outrage after the people behind the ad played on the word genes and jeans.
The Euphoria star was announced as the face of clothing brand American Eagle's new jeans campaign last Thursday.
The advert's tagline is 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans' with the word 'genes' crossed out.
In one of the campaign videos, the 27-year-old actress can been seen zipping up her jeans while lying down.
In the voiceover Sweeney says: 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.'
The choice of wording and the emphasis on her blonde hair and blue eyes has sparked outrage online with some commenters going as far to claim it had sinister implications.
'Nazi propaganda,' one TikTok user wrote, linking it to the nazis' pursuit of Aryanism — an ideology linked to German racial supremacy where people with blue eyes and blonde hair were superior to others.
Commentators slamming the ad campaign are going viral online with people accusing American Eagle of promoting eugenics, 'white supremacy' and linking it to the nazis.
'The most nazi part of the Sydney Sweeney ad for me was the use of the word offspring,' another person wrote on X.
'I like Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle as much as the next guy but 'we must secure the existence of our people and a future for our white children' is a crazy tagline for selling jeans,' another commented.
The emphasis on genes is carried out across the entire campaign.
In one part of the advert, Sweeney, dressed in full denim, is standing in front of a billboard for the campaign which reads 'Sydney Sweeney has great genes'.
She then runs a brooms over it and in the next frame the word 'genes' has been crossed out and replaced with 'jeans'.
The post on American Eagle's Instagram account has been flooded with comments from people sharing their disdain for the campaign.
'Welp, no longer shopping at AE ever again, and neither will my future children,' one person commented.
'What in the white is this?,' said another.
CNBC, a partner publisher of 7NEWS.com.au, reached out to Sweeney for comment.
A representative for the actress declined to comment.
American Eagle did not respond to a request for comment.
In May, Sweeney confirmed she was single, after months of speculation that she and her fiancé Jonathon Davino had split up.
'I'm learning a lot about myself, spending more time with my friends. And I'm loving it, ' she told The Times.
On July 22, Sweeney posted a picture of herself in character for her new movie Christy, set to be released in September.