A recent ad for American Eagle jeans, featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, has created quite an uproar.
The ad features Sweeney, an attractive white woman, in a seductive pose with the caption, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
Some people have seen this as promoting the practice of eugenics, as the copy talks about traits (genes) passed down from her parents. The complaint continues that Sweeney portrays a very narrow, conventional version of beauty.
Hmm. I suspect this was meant to be a cute play on words, without any intention of evoking anything as dark as eugenics, or discrediting people with other skin colors or different types of features.
If that same copy featured Beyonce or Serena Williams, would we hear the same complaints and concerns? Certainly they have great jeans/genes as well.
Would it be unfair to Hispanics, Asians, or other ethnic groups if they were not the ones highlighted? Are we now suggesting every ad should includes representatives of every major ethnic group? What about minor ethnic groups?
Sigmund Freud is credited as saying, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” And sometimes a clever turn of words is just that and nothing more.
Don’t we have more important issues to worry about? Splash.
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