Sydney Sweeney‘s viral American Eagle campaign has come under fire for allegedly echoing Nazi propaganda.

The 27-year-old actress is currently promoting the denim line for the brand American Eagle Outfitters. On Wednesday, the company unveiled a series of photos and playful clips featuring the Euphoria star in full blue denim attire, accompanied by the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”.

In one of the advertisements, the Anyone but You star is depicted erecting a billboard that states: “Sydney Sweeney has great genes”. Notably, the word genes is crossed out and replaced with “jeans” scrawled beneath it.

In another snippet for the campaign, Sweeney is shown reclining, fastening her jeans while she narrates, “genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour”.

As the camera focuses on her face, she adds, “My jeans are blue” followed by a male voice-over delivering the tagline: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”.

READ MORE

Buckle Up Pervs, A Soap Infused With Sydney Sweeney’s Bathwater Is About To Hit The Market

Why is this campaign sparking backlash?

Following its debut on Wednesday, the campaign swiftly garnered mixed reactions from the public as it began to spread.

Some viewers perceived it as a humorous nod to Sweeney’s undeniable attractiveness. However, others argued that referencing the “good genes” of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Sweeney serves as a “racialised dog whistle” that “promotes eugenics”.

While featuring a white, blonde, and blue-eyed spokesperson doesn’t automatically label the campaign as propaganda, it does raise concerns when Sweeney — who embodies these aryan features — is portrayed as the epitome of ideal physical traits.

“Yeah, this is just clear eugenicist propaganda. Y’all weren’t kidding at all,” commented one X user.

“The American Eagles ad wasn’t just a commercial. It was a love letter to white nationalism and eugenic fantasies, and Sydney Sweeney knew it,” remarked another.

Conversely, some individuals believe that the American Eagle campaign was referencing a 1980 Calvin Klein campaign featuring a 15-year-old Brooke Shields — which, for the record, remains controversial.

In Shields’ 1980 campaign, she was depicted posing in jeans while reciting a script that also played on the jeans-genes wordplay. Today, that campaign is infamous for the extreme sexualisation of an underage Shields.

Nevertheless, the campaign appears to be successful for American Eagle Outfitters. After Sweeney was announced as the face of the campaign, the company’s stock prices rose by 12 percent. Just a day after the campaign’s release, they surged an additional four percent.

According to 9News, this increase added almost $US228 million ($346 million) to its market value.

Sydney Sweeney’s campaign has sparked a lot of mixed opinions. (Image: American Eagle Outfitters)

READ MORE

All The Celebrities Who Are Dragging The Folks Who Showed Face At Jeff Bezos’ $85M Wedding

What has Sydney Sweeney or American Eagle Outfitters said?

As of now, neither Sydney Sweeney nor American Eagle Outfitters have responded to the backlash.

In all honesty, Sweeney typically remains tight-lipped in the media, so it wouldn’t be surprising if she stays silent until this controversy subsides. Regarding American Eagle Outfitters, only time will tell.

We’ll have to wait and see.