Within the last month, four companies known for their denim were caught in a political cross-fire that even led to President Donald Trump’s commentary.
“If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic,” Trump said.
His remark came in response to the ad’s now widely discussed – and seemingly undertone – message. The ad shows Sydney Sweeney saying “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring” then following up with “My genes are blue” as the camera pans to her eyes.The ad is also a nod to Calvin Klein’s 1980 ad with then 15-year-old Brooke Shields, which even back then received public uproar due to its “overt sexualization of a minor in an advertisement,” according to NPR.
To top it all off, another source of outrage to the American Eagle ad is its hypersexualized nature.
“The company says the ad campaign is supposed to raise domestic violence awareness, a cause Sweeney is passionate about — and 100% of the purchase price of the jeans will be donated to Crisis Text Line, a charity that offers mental health services,” according to NPR.
With all of the aspects, it seems like American Eagle took a problematic person to promote a problematic message on purpose. In response to American Eagle, Gap released an ad with the girl group Katseye made by the K-Pop company Hybe to represent girls worldwide through its diversity. Gap used Katseye’s diversity to comeback on American Eagle’s eugenic-view.
“On August 19, Gap unveiled its fall denim collection by dressing the hit girl group in a series of Y2K-inspired denim looks for one of their iconic dance commercials—which date back to the ’90s—further tapping into millennial nostalgia with a soundtrack of “Milkshake” by Kelis. And it’s already making history as the brand’s most viral ad ever,” according to Yahoo entertainment.
The Levi’s ad campaigning Beyonce gathered controversy around her appearance.
Beyonce’s Levi ad came into the conversation when Megyn Kelly, American journalist and media personality, said, “This is the opposite of the Sydney Sweeney ad. Quite clearly there is nothing natural about Beyonce.” Well, there’s not exactly nothing natural about Sydney Sweeney’s botched blond hair but that’s beside the point. The Levi ad included a new song by Beyonce that brings all generations with country aspects.
The fourth jean ad within this battle is Addison Rae’s, Tiktok sensation and singer, jean campaign with Lucky Brand.
Many headlines include the variation of “Addison Rae Has ‘Better Genes’ Than Sydney Sweeney In New Jeans Campaign” (Headline from Yahoo entertainment).
Allen Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce said “Marketers are between a rock and a hard place. They know that the more inclusive they are, the less likely they are to get some social media buzz.”
