Sydney Sweeney's jeans ad triggers liberals. She looks good. They don't.
Actress Sydney Sweeney and I share a few things.
We're both blonde (mine is natural; I'm not sure about hers). We have blue eyes. We have the same birthday.
And we were born in the Pacific Northwest − she in Washington, I in Oregon.
Sadly for me, that's where the similarities end. And it's why I work for a newspaper and Sweeney is on the big screen.
Sweeney is beautiful in a classic girl-next-door kind of way. No wonder American Eagle recently chose the 27-year-old to star in some sexy new ads for the clothing company's jeans.
The advertising campaign showcases Sweeney's 'great jeans,' with a playful reference to her 'genes.' She clearly was gifted with good ones.
'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,' Sweeney says in one ad. 'My jeans are blue.'
It's clever and fun.
So why am I even talking about this?
Because liberals have lost their minds over it, accusing both American Eagle and Sweeney of sending a racist message. Some have outright called the ads 'Nazi propaganda' and an example of 'White supremacy.'
It's a ridiculous overreaction to an advertisement featuring a successful, attractive celebrity. And it's the latest example of how the left refuses to let go of their woke agenda and identity politics, which were soundly rejected in the 2024 election.
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Is Sydney Sweeney's jeans ad 'tone-deaf'? Not at all.
After American Eagle announced its collaboration with Sweeney on July 23, its stock jumped, signaling the market understood this was a smart move.
'Sweeney's girl next door charm and main character energy − paired with her ability to not take herself too seriously − is the hallmark of this bold, playful campaign,' American Eagle wrote on its website.
The fall campaign features 'The Sydney Jean,' created in partnership with Sweeney. All the revenue from the sales will be donated to the Crisis Text Line, which offers free mental health support.
Rather than focus on the positive, however, progressives turned to mob mode, calling names and threatening to boycott the company and Sweeney.
'During a time when DEI is under attack and there are mass deportations occurring daily, an ad campaign centered on how awesome it is to be white and blonde-haired and blue-eyed reads as rather tone-deaf,' a writer for Vulture muses.
Vanity Fair asks, 'Does Sydney Sweeney have 'great jeans,' or has the American Eagle brand simply had a very, very bad idea?' while noting that the campaign is 'based around a play on words that may seem harmless − but has been criticized by onlookers who see a sinister message lurking beneath the pun.'
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Yet, that same Vulture article also mentions how Sweeney's ad campaign is a direct nod to one Brooke Shields did for Calvin Klein in the 1980s.
Americans are sick of DEI. Sweeney's ad signals a reset.
Maybe the American Eagle-Sweeney collaboration is simply a throwback and not eugenics-promoting?
In a recent interview with NPR, former Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (and rumored 2028 Democratic presidential contender) acknowledged that Democrats have been 'slow to understand some of the cultural changes that have been happening.'
'I think there's a perception that Democrats became so focused on identity that we no longer had a message that could actually speak to people across the board, or that we were only for you if you fit into a certain identity bucket,' Buttigieg said.
That's exactly what Democrats have done, focusing on race and gender identity to the point that it's ostracized a large number of voters.
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Whether progressives want to admit it, the country is still majority White and these Americans are tired of being made to feel evil or unworthy simply because of their immutable characteristics. No one should be made to feel that way.
Companies and colleges are starting to roll back their diversity, equality and inclusion adherence that has felt oppressive in recent years and led to more division – not less.
Sweeney is a young woman who's capitalizing on her good looks and charm. Good for her. And good for American Eagle for bucking the DEI trend.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques
You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
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