Ted Cruz defends Sydney Sweeney amid American Eagle ad backlash

USA Today

19 hours ago

After an ad starring Sydney Sweeney outraged viewers, Sen. Ted Cruz is coming to her defense.
The Texas Republican took to X July 29 to blast the "crazy left" for criticizing Sweeney's American Eagle denim jeans campaign as a dog whistle for eugenics and the glorification of whiteness.
Responding to a New York Post article, which detailed the controversy, Cruz wrote: "Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women. I'm sure that will poll well…."
Sydney Sweeney, an American Eagle ad campaign and why it sparked backlash
Part of a larger partnership between the "Euphoria" actress and the popular clothier, the ad campaign used wordplay to describe Sweeney as having "good genes," with the latter word doing double duty, meaning not just her DNA but also the denim on her body (which was American Eagle made).
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.
Cruz joined a parade of notables adding their two cents, including "Bachelor" star Gabby Windey and even Doja Cat, who mocked the ad in a TikTok video.
In one of several videos for the advertising blitz, 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.
Sydney Sweeney critics compare jeans campaign to Brooke Shields' Calvin Klein ad
Consumers were quick to point out what they saw as the regressive nature of the material. A blonde shown sensually, catering to the male gaze, they argued, was a stereotypical symbol of a bygone era.
"How far back do you plan on going? Do you still wanna vote?" one commenter asked, while another chided: "You accept these jobs that objectify your body. Fight the patriarchy, don't join it."
Even more concerning, critics argued, was the use of Sweeney as the archetype of "good genes."
Defined generally as the use of selective breeding to "improve" the human race through emphasis on desirable traits, the pseudoscience of eugenics has a dark backstory, used in the past as a vehicle for racial violence and sterilization. Lifting Sweeney's genes up as "good," critics said, notches into a painful and dangerous history.
That the controversy stems from a denim ad, and one from a company with "American" in the name, further complicates the reception. Americana and denim go hand in hand, the stiff fabric harkening back to cowboy culture, workmen's uniforms and other mythologized aspects of the national identity.