Sydney Sweeney has been getting canceled yet again after her recent American Eagle Jean ad. Their recent ad from July 2025 shows Sweeney putting on a pair of jeans while laying down and saying, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”
Many are outraged at the “white suprematist” and “borderline eugenics” undertones of the ad. However, there’s also another issue with the nod to the controversial 1980 Calvin Klein jean ad with Brooke Shields.
In 1980 Calvin Klein released a commercial for jeans starring a 15 year old Brooke Shields. The commercial showed Shields putting on a pair of jeans while posing in strange positions, and conveyed a script with many sexual undertones. It also used the same play on words with “jeans” and “genes.”
The Brooke Shields commercial faced a lot of criticism and was even banned for a good reason. It is weird and creepy to have a 15 year old girl say, “You want to know what comes in between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” Not only was this aired across the country, but they were taking advantage of a beautiful girl just to gain popularity among the public.
The recent American Eagle ad resembles the Calvin Klein commercial very well. It was an obvious inspiration for the script, pose, and theme. So why did American Eagle base their ad on a commercial over-sexualizing a 15 year old? Especially since their company wants to “…educate and empower teens and young adults”.
A company empowering teens should not be basing their marketing on problematic commercials that objectify women. American Eagle is a billion dollar company with a large staff and several resources, but instead chose to copy a 40-year-old commercial. Sydney Sweeney is a talented actress who is more than capable of acting out an original script.
American Eagle’s new marketing campaign lacked creativity, originality, or any basic sense. They based their ad on a disturbing commercial from the ‘80s with an over-sexualized, 15-year-old, Brooke Shields and expected a good reaction. American Eagle can do better and has had better marketing, so why did it take such a negative turn?
The good news is that the marketing team is going into a new direction with their recent campaign. They are now partnering with Tru Kolors by Travis Kelce. New campaigns will come and hopefully won’t be as controversial as the “Sweeney Jeans.”
