American Eagle
Earlier this summer, American Eagle released a new ad campaign with Sydney Sweeney that immediately tuned into a culture war, with even President Trump and the official White House account posting about it on social media.
The crux of the controversy is this: American Eagle’s campaign with Sweeney is called “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” which led to a vocal minority of social media accounts claiming the ads were promoting eugenics/white supremacy.
The cultural and political right seized on the story. If you were to ask Texas Senator Ted Cruz, he’ll tell you “the Left hates beautiful women” (which is what he tweeted in reaction to the backlash to the ad). The data, however, shows that a majority of “the Left” — specifically, young men and women Democrats — don’t actually believe what the likes of Cruz, Fox News, and even President Trump have been claiming they do.
Study finds that just 10% of young women, 8% of young men thought Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad was about ‘genetic superiority’
According to a poll conducted by Generation Lab, 10% and 8% of young women and men said the ad was “trying to endorse eugenics and genetic superiority to sell jeans.” Furthermore, 13%, 5% and 8% of young Democrats, Republicans and Independents said the same, according to Axios.
“Though majorities of young Democrats and young women didn’t care for the jeans ad, just 10% of all respondents agreed with perhaps the harshest criticism of the campaign — that it offers a positive portrayal of the discredited belief of eugenics by featuring a play on the words ‘jeans’ and ‘genes.'” [via Axios]
Generation Lab says that the data set was collected from August 7 through August 11, from a representative sample of 1,289 undergraduate and graduate students nationwide. Additional findings in the poll were:
-64% of Democrats strongly or somewhat agreed that the ad felt out of touch, compared with 39% of Republicans.
-38% of Republicans agreed the ad felt authentic, compared with 10% of Democrats.
-42% of Democrats said the ad made them less likely to buy jeans from American Eagle. 16% of Republicans and 28% of Independents said the same.
-39% of young women — the ad’s target demographic — said they’re less likely to buy AE jeans. 21% of male respondents said the same.
-63% of young women, compared with 44% of young men, agreed that the ad felt out of touch.
Following the rollout of the American Eagle ads in late July, Sweeney will next be seen starring in the film Americana, which releases in theaters on Friday, August 15. Then, the following Friday — August 22 — her film Eden, which she stars in alongside Ana de Armas and Vanessa Kirby, also hits theaters.