Everyone is up in arms over Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle jean campaign, calling it "Nazi coded." Sydney explains genetics while zipping up her jeans: "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue."
And as soon as the ad ran, a million social media posts accused the campaign of being some sort of Nazi propaganda. What everyone missed is the obvious homage to a Brooke Shields' jeans ad, that aired way back in the 1980s.
"The secret of life lies hidden in the genetic code", a fifteen year old Brooke explains, "genes are fundamental in determining the characteristics of an individual and passing on these characteristics to a succeeding generation" she says as she pulls on and zips up her jeans. She ends her monologue with "which brings us to Calvin, and the survival of the fittest."
It's essentially the same exact ad, except nobody accused the Calvin Klein campaign of being some sort of Nazi dogwhistle. This time around however, the jeans/genes pun is causing such an uproar that it almost looks like a parody.
"Sydney Sweeney's ad shows an unbridled cultural shift toward whiteness" a MSNBC headlines reads, then continues with "Advertisements are always mirrors of society, and sometimes what they reflect is ugly and startling."
While I tend to agree that one should keep puns out of advertising copy, it's hardly "ugly and startling" to revive one of the oldest puns in the book.
On Instagram, comments are tearing the above clip apart; It’s giving “Subtle 1930’s Germany” one commenter said while countless others promise to never shop at American Eagle again. On Tiktok people are calling it "white supremacy propaganda", and going on tirades against the pun. On threads someone calls the ad "Eugenics". BET declared: 'Great Jeans' Ad Isn’t Just a Pun—It’s a Problem.
This lady is sure that American Eagle are encouraging young middle American women in their prime reproductive years, to pass on their genetics.
Now having children is a bad Nazi thing to do, as if women having kids is a literal Lebensborn program, and not just a normal part of life.
Why wasn't this the reaction when Brooke Shields shared her knowledge of the genetic code? Brooke has piercing blue eyes too, just like Sydney.
When that campaign ran, people were busy being shocked at Brooke's young age, as a line turned her into a national sex symbol overnight.
“Do you know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.”
Sydney is a sex symbol too, but she's 27, well over the legal age, and back in the 80s that would be a common age for a mother of two.
American Eagle's press release explains why Sydney was chosen, much like Brooke then, she is the (sexy) girl next door today: "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."
The limited run “ The Sydney Jean,” will raise money for the Crisis Text Line , as the butterfly motif on the back pocket of the jean represents domestic violence awareness. That detail has gotten lost as people argue about the ads supposed "white supremacist" motives.
It's interesting how back in 1980 the concern was that Brooke was too young to be a sex symbol. While in 2025 the problem is that Sydney Sweeney is blond and blue eyed. Sex has always sold, but now we're not allowed to find women in their prime attractive, lest we might want to make babies with someone who looks like Sydney.
