I think I might have a different viewpoint than many people on the recent (current?) Sydney Sweeney has Great Jeans Genes ad campaign for Pittsburgh’s own American Eagle blue jeans. After all, who doesn’t love a little dad joke pun, right?
After majoring in advertising at Penn State many years ago (I’m afraid to think of how many), and working as an advertising copywriter for a good part of the years since, I’ve been an interested observer of ads and advertising for my entire adult life. I’m one of those weird folks who thoroughly enjoys parsing messages, researching demographics, evaluating media placements, and analyzing the reception of ads by their target audience and the world at-large.
My opinion on the Jeans/Genes ad kerfuffle is slightly different than most, because I have a close connection to a similar campaign decision made many years ago. My brother was once a finalist to be spokesman for the original Diet Dr. Pepper campaign back in 1977. Old folks like me might remember that the “Be a Pepper” campaign was helmed by David Naughton (who would go on to star in the movie An American Werewolf in London).
Bobby was told he didn’t get the gig because “he looked too ethnic.” The ad agency and Dr. Pepper’s marketing people thought he looked too Aryan.
My brother was a Broadway dancer and male model. He was about 6 ft. tall, with a slender, athletic build, blue eyes, and wavy blonde hair. He was a mutt like me, sharing our parents’ Irish and German genes, but Bobby won the prize for looks and charisma (one of my other brothers might have contested that belief, but even in his heart of hearts, he knew Bobby was our “star”).
Anyway, AE is being called out by several folks on social media for possibly using the blue-eyed, blonde-haired, curvaceous Sweeney because of her Aryan good looks. The claim is that the actress was cast as some kind of dog-whistle to the white nationalists that seem to be dominating the dialogue and decisions coming from our current administration controlling the White House. (Looking directly at you, Stephen Miller.)
The criticism on social media has helped the apparel company do exactly what they hoped; the campaign has received much more notice and free airings than even the most heavily funded campaigns in recent memory. The ads and billboards have been discussed and shown ad nauseam on cable news, newspapers, news aggregators, pop culture websites, and social networks, extending the campaign’s reach infinitely beyond an ad buyer’s wildest dreams.
While Dr. Pepper purposefully chose to steer away from any perceived Aryan-ness in its campaign 48 years ago (the energetic Mr. Naughton memorably played the Pepper Pied-Piper for four years), AE has pounced on the current deportation maelstrom and unsettling race-baiting that is happening to generate extra buzz on behalf of its blue jeans.
I’d like to think this was an anticipated outcome for the brand. They knew what they were getting into, and they intend to ride the “controversy” as far as the silly pun can take them.
Ms. Sweeney, for her part, has used her social media in the past to show support for BLM and other progressive goals, so the joke just might be on the conservative echo chamber using the “controversy” to declare that the campaign marks the “end of woke.” (I love how people like Ted Cruz have even weighed in to say liberals are criticizing Ms. Sweeney’s looks, showing, yet again, how out of touch and numb-brained a Harvard-educated legislator can be.)
I don’t know that I am impressed with AE’s decision to step into the culture wars in this fashion (with their fashion), but I do recognize the effort. In my opinion, and in a better world, the Sweeney ads would be followed by a broader campaign featuring a diverse collection of Olympic athletes, NIL-chasing collegians, and other beautiful Americans — male and female — whose appearance displays their great genes.
Here’s my suggestion for a good brain cleanse. One of my favorite tunes from the “little ol’ band from Texas”: