July 28, 2025 • 24 mins
She's done it again! Sydney Sweeney has made a habit out of getting people worked up. This time, she's set the internet on fire and even sent stocks soaring ... All because of her genes/jeans. Amy and T. J. get into it about Sweeney's latest collaboration with American Eagle, and why the idea of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white woman being celebrated for her "good genes" a reminder of one of the ugliest periods in human history.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, there are folks. It's July twenty eighth, and first
she wants us to buy soap that was made out
of her bath water. Now Sydney Sweeney wants us to
buy her jeans. Why are people pissed about this? Welcome
everybody to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Road.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
It's not that simple. It's almost anything she does people
are gonna pay attention to, and some people find a
way to criticize It's just gens. That's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's just gens. But it's a new ad collaboration Sidney
Sweeney has with American Eagle, and it's created such a
kerfuffle and it's controversial for more than one reason, according
to people who are lashing out at Sidney Sweeney and
or American Eagle. However, American Eagle stock is soaring because
(00:51):
of the whole controversy and perhaps just even because of
a very clever ad campaign that some folks are taking
issue with.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
So what can we just call this what it is?
This is a clever ad that plays on her appearance,
and this is selling sex period. I'm not overstating that right.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Uh yeah, and selling her beauty, oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
And that's nobody's criticizing have a problem with that? Is
that fair to say? I just want to establish where
we are here.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
No one's criticizing the fact that they're selling sex and
they're selling jeans in a very.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Hot body boom.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
That's been going on since the beginning of time.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So what's the other one? She had the soap I
can't remember the name of the group, but she had
a name of the organization, but she partnered with a
soap maker and they literally were selling bars of soap
that were made out or had a portion of her
bathwater mixed into it. Again, selling sex.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yes, she's the hottest thing, one of the hottest things
in Hollywood right now, and several brands are capitalizing on that,
and she's capitalizing on it as well. I mean, she's
an actress, she's beautiful, she's gorgeous, she's young.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Go get that money, girl. I got no problem with that.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
That's exactly what actresses. That's a I mean, let's just
call a spade a spade. This is what folks do.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
But again, we don't want to anyway criticize this young lady.
She should go get that money. She is as hot
as she is figuratively and literally. Some will argue because
this lot is about her beauty. Every time I walk
into Sephora, which is about two times a week, I
see her picture all over the place. I have seen
her more on an ad than I have in a movie.
(02:20):
That's me. That's just the truth. But go get it.
I'm actually excited for, happy for and see her capitalizing
on how hot she is right now. I applaud all
that she does. I didn't understand the genes initially.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Did you watch the ads?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I get it now. I get it now, but I
only would have gotten it on the ad that was
the one. There are different versions of the ad. This
one was American Egle, the one they had online where
she was putting the ad essentially on a billboard here
correct New York. That one that had genes crossed out
(02:57):
to say j E A n s instead of G
E n ees. Now, when I saw the word genes,
my head almost blue.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Right, And so in the ad, this is the big
ad that has a lot of people upset. They're talking hitlerresque,
they're talking all sorts of scary things like eugenics, et cetera.
But Sidney Sweeney says, genes, as in G. E, N E. S.
Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining
traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My
(03:27):
genes are blue. And while she's saying this, there's the
cameras panning up her body while she's buttoning up her genes,
and ends up with that, and that has gotten a
lot of people upset.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Okay again, I think still a lot of folks look
at it and don't understand the problem. And I hear
woke being thrown around a lot, and I really really
would love to get rid of of that word, because
woke denotes something that's negative or an overreach. It is
not woke to be or desire to be diverse, is
(04:03):
not woke to want to get rid of racist imagery
and thoughts. That's not wokeness. This is education. I think
here robes because I think a lot of people didn't
catch this, and as we're talking now still about genes,
I think folks will wonder, well, what's.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
The problem, right, because obviously American Eagle was being cute
and being playful about her having good genes because she's
so beautiful physically, and then they decided to make obviously
have some fun with that with their genes having good
genes in good genes, right.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
A lot of would say cute and clever.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Right, But some of the comments and it does get
you thinking. One of them getting a blue eyed, blonde,
white woman and focusing your campaign around her having perfect
genetics feels weird. And others said, hey, this slogan is
too close to the master race propaganda and echoed eugenics
era language used to validate and promote the superiority of
(04:58):
white beauty.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So that's some recognized it immediately. Genes, this idea, good genes,
this idea. Yes, eugenics we talk about, but this is
a good chance to do a history lesson because what
was the crap? What was the one we just had
with Love Island? What was it? The girl that got
kicked off because she was she made a comment had
(05:23):
a racial slur? Which girl was it? Is it? Ulyssa?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Was that the which the one who had used the
N word and just threw it around?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
The second one who was talking about the way she
looked and she was comparing herself to an Asian.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
She compared herself to the Asian eyes. She said, her
eyes looked a certain thing that we will not obviously,
we will not say what she said.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That young lady. I was surprised afterwards, and I said
to you, I think we got on and talked about it.
I said, she probably didn't know what she was saying.
She probably didn't know it was wrong. She probably didn't
know she was using a slur at all. And that's
what she came out and later said. But Robes, we
were talking to people in our circle, some younger folks.
I was shocked. They said, yeah, I didn't know that
was bad either.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Right. She thought she was just describing an eye shape
and didn't realize she actually used a word that is
very offensive to the Asian community.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Is it possible that this is where we are now,
because when this idea of good genes and this idea
of eugenics goes back to the eighteenth eighteen hundreds, and
this is exactly the logic that Hitler and the Nazis
used to justify the Holocaust. They are trying to rid
impurities out of the race. They even had laws back
(06:32):
at the time, did they not that folks who were
they sterilized them. You if you were you had a
disability or considered mentally ill, you couldn't marry, you couldn't
have you couldn't have kids. This was the argument used.
So people see genes and this idea of good genes
and a blonde haired, blue eyed, thin bombshell saying it
(06:55):
immediately this jumped out. But Rob's argument, is it possible
that somebody with an American eagle did not get it?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
One hundred percent? I don't think they could have. In
some of the comments in many of these forums said, hey,
was there not a black person? Was there not any
person of color? Was there no diversity in that boardroom
while you all were discussing your ad campaign? How did
not one person flag this? And I actually had to
(07:23):
go back and look up eugenics because I wanted to
know exactly what it is. What the definition of eugenics
is to your point what you were saying, it is
the study of how to arrange reproduction with a human
population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable.
And so yes, this was the exact study that was
(07:46):
used by Nazis in order to justify their treatment of Jews,
of as you mentioned, disabled people, or anyone of any minority.
So this is history, and some would say, scare being
touted now in an ad campaign without any regard to
what they're actually telling people, And she said offspring like those.
(08:09):
Some of the words she used were very eerie and
creepy and reminiscent.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
The good genes is the exact phrase that has been used.
So in the ad she had robes where she was again,
she was essentially putting up a billboard here in New York,
and it said genes g E n E S and
it was crossed out to say j E A N S.
(08:35):
That one was the one that disturbed me most. I
don't think if I'm not sure, if I hadn't seen
the word gene spelled out, I don't know if it
would have immediately jumped out at me. But all of
the ads talking about genes, they're talking about Janet, You're
talking about what many deem now as the perfect white woman.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, exactly. That's scary, And I just I think what's
even more frightening is that this did not cross anyone's mind.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Okay, so that's scary. The scarier scenario for me is
if they did know what they were doing, what if
they knew exactly what the hell this was gonna set off.
What if a company that gears and markets and stuff
towards a white audience that's full of white people who
are making these decisions about who they're going to go after.
We don't give a damn about a diverse community being
(09:31):
annoyed by this, because we are going out to the
people we want, and those people love this girl. Everybody
else be damned. That is another scenario that I hope
was not the case, but I'm sure plenty of people
wouldn't put it past them.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Wow, I hadn't even considered that it was acknowledged and
thought about, and then the decision was still made to
go ahead with the commercial like this, We won't know.
An American Eagle hasn't commented in any way about this
particular controversy. Are the people who are upset with their
ad campaign? And I mean, who knows what they're actually thinking.
(10:06):
But certainly it's been effective.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
But there are some I mean, we've seen it. I
can't remember all the examples now, but there have been
some companies who've taken things down and say, oh, we
didn't realize that, we didn't recognize we have seen I mean,
how many times and how many meetings I have been
in more so than you, meetings where I'm the only
black guy. You've never had that experience. No, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I've not ever been the only black guy in a room.
But I have.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Thirty people telling me something is right, and I'm the
only one raising my hand saying, hey, guys, you shouldn't
do that. I had a story once they wanted me
to do on fried chicken, and I actually said, hey, guys,
just heads up, just want you to know how me
getting up there doing some dance about freaking fried chicken.
It's going to be a bad look. And some folks
(10:49):
just didn't get it for a number of reasons that
they is it possible they got some twenty year olds
in the PR department. I said, Oh, this is gonna
be cute, This is gonna be cool.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I really, I want to believe believe that this is
just a matter of being tone deaf, that they just
maybe they're too young, as you point out, to even
think about World War two or the Nazis or the
whole eugenics. They might not even know what that phrase is.
They may just thought, hey, here, let's have some fun
with this cute, hot girl and let's talk about her
good jeans and have her be in good jeans. And
(11:20):
so I want to believe that is where it began,
an end that they didn't think about and perhaps didn't
know about. However, in a company that's been around for
as long as an American Eagle nineteen seventy seven, I
was going to say, nineteen seventy seven, created in your
birth year. And yes, they've been struggling as of late.
They've had some tough years, really really tough years. So
(11:42):
they thought this is going to be our big boost
Sydney Sweeney, there's no one hotter than that. We've got her,
and sure enough their stocks has rowed up. But what's
the backlash going to be? Is there going to be backlash?
Are there going to be boycotts of American Eagle until
they take this advertisement down? Is there going to be
any ignotionledge by the company that they inadvertently stepped into
(12:03):
something they didn't mean to and they could find a way.
How could they write this wrong.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
By admitting that they didn't recognize what it wants. It's okay,
they're never gonna come out admit, yes, we we were
standing by this. If you come out and say, you
know what, we didn't realize or we understand that some
people were offended by that language. We meant no harm
in what we were doing. You take the opportunity to say, yeah, okay,
we see it, we get it. We messed up. We're
(12:31):
going to do it differently. Oh, you don't even have
to say you messed up. Just acknowledge that it's hurtful
to some people do something. But they're going to be
quiet as long as this, as long as we keep
talking about it, because they don't have to say anything
yet because their stock is going up. Wow, not because
anybody's bought a single pair of Sydney Sweeney jeans yet,
but because everybody's talking, just simply talking about it. Whether
(12:51):
they call this meme stock, meme stocky's terribly understand. But
there's a stock that goes up, not based on any
financials of the damn company. It's because it's hot right now,
we buzz it.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It's because this is kind of crazy. The stock is
going up, they say, because of all of the comments
and all of the reaction on forums like Reddit and TikTok.
And so when you start to get people talking about
your brand good or bad, your stock sorees and it's
an inflated price, and so yeah, people are playing around
with the stock market over this, and that's concerning to
a lot of folks as well. Remember what happened with
AMC during the pandemic. People are comparing it's not gotten
(13:26):
to that level yet, but people are saying it could
because when people start buzzing about this, it just builds
and builds and builds. And so yeah, we're now in
a couple of days into this, and not only are
people complaining this is the big beef of courses with
the genes and the eugenics and all that, but there
are also concerns about she has a line or at
least a pair of genes in this whole ad campaign
(13:47):
that is going one hundred percent of the proceeds go
directly to domestic abuse survivors, and so a lot of
folks say, over sexualizing this girl and then having money
from some of the sales go directly to domestic violence
hotline just seems completely also tone deaf as well. So
they've got like a twofold attack from folks who are
(14:08):
not happy with this ad campaign that seemed.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Like an aside. It's not even in bold anywhere about this.
This should be a huge initiative. It should be led
with that idea, we are going to raise awareness with
domestic abuse survivors out there. Fine with Sydney's Sweeney front
and center, but that isn't the centerpiece message. It's about
look at how good this woman looks, and it's because
she has good genes. The ad I did have a
(14:32):
little bit of a discomfort with was the one that
she's talking about the gene and it pans down to
her cleavage and kind of stops there and she says, hey,
head up here, up here, like look at my eyes instead.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yes. So the second advertisement you see, yes, the camera
pans down to her chest as she's modeling a plunging
denim jumpsuit, so obviously the focus is on her boobs,
and she says, my body's composition is determined by my
jenes and then she says, hey, eyes up here, when
the camera goes and cuts to her boobs and then
(15:05):
it comes back up to her face. So she's leaning
into it, she's playing along with it, but it's.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Just uh and she can she can sidneys.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
And she has beautiful boobs body. That's absolutely true, and fair,
But folks just say, hey, this is just a little
bit difficult to swallow when you're looking at someone who's saying, hey,
these genes are going to go and be a part
of this campaign where some of the proceeds are going
to help domestic violence abuse victims, but let's talk about
my boobs.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
It's just tough for their part American Eagle and putting
out at least the ad. They said the ad was
a flawless wardrobe for the winning combo of ease, attitude
and a little mischief. They also went on to call
them a bold, playful ads. So they're almost leaning into
some tongue in cheekness. Not completely there, but that's all
(15:57):
they've had to say so far.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, so it's tough. I mean there are some there
are some really, really really tough comments out there. This
one on Twitter. I just wanted to read this one
launching a pair of genes with the hope of combating
domestic violence and then immediately making the campaign video all
about a woman's They use the word ti t yes
is the most well, I'm not going to say that
(16:20):
word they use either, gross marketing decision. You are rearing
whole legions of brain maggots. Oh my god, I mean people,
it's it's interesting how upset people get about this. I mean, look,
the proceeds for the one pair of genes are one
hundred percent going to city. I'm sorry, it's going to
Crisis text line. The genes are priced at eighty nine
ninety five, which is actually a fairly reasonable price for
(16:42):
a Sydney Sweeney jeens And so it's going to help.
The charity goes to help offer confidential mental support to
victims of domestic abuse. So it's a good cause. It's
a it's a great idea for a campaign, and I
think everyone appreciates the fact that she's lending her voice
and support to this organization, but it's getting lost in
all the uproar and all the rage surrounding these acts.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Maybe you've seen has she lent her voice to it?
But has she said is there any comment? I didn't
see any comment that she made at least about the
proceeds going to that. I'm could have missed it, but.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
No, that was just this was from the advertisement itself.
Everything I saw I just said, hey, But I didn't
see her flagging it or making a big point about it.
Other than a butterfly is on the back of the
pocket of the genes that goes to support that that charity.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
All right, So genes denim genes are controversial because of
genes with a G G e n e s. But
that phrase we've been talking about good genes. It's been
uttered repeatedly publicly by one Donald J. Trump over the years.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Welcome back everyone to this of Amy and TJ where
we are talking about Sydney Sweeney's new ad campaign with
American Eagle making a play on the word jens J
E A n s with her good G E n
e s. A lot of folks are very concerned about
this ad campaign and what it's saying about white beauty,
(18:22):
about I mean, even at worse some concerns about eugenics,
where this is the end all be all. We have
good genes means you are blonde, white, beautiful, blue eyes
and uhre hair, all that stuff. And understandably there are
a lot of folks who are calling out American Eagle
(18:42):
to say something, to do something, to be better, to
think smarter.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Racial hygiene is the way it's been put over the
years as well when we talk about good genes. So
this is something we have had pop up several times,
and President Trump has been called out about it over
the years, notably, I League it was twenty twenty during
the campaign against Joe Biden, where he was in Minnesota,
a very diverse place, at a rally. In his rallies
(19:10):
aren't necessarily known to be that diverse either, but he
talked about in front of that group, how you all
here have good genes. I think he said it on
more than one occasion, but he was making a reference
to them having good geens at a time he was
also criticizing the Biden administration for having more immigrants come
into that area. Well, these things were happening in the
(19:30):
same breath that he is telling them, sleepy Joe is
trying I think he used the phrase at the time,
it's trying to bring these immigrants into your community, this
community where you all got good genes. He's referred to
himself in interviews, including one with Oprah I believe back
in the eighties in which you talking about, yeah, I
got good jeans, I got good gens. Always talks about
good genes. He races. I can think he compared to
(19:52):
a race horses. Sometimes, yeah, you got a good racehorse
breeds with another racehorse, yet good gene. And so he
has spoken on this over the years, and if you
didn't catch some will argue he was putting out a
little signal to certain supporters, like in plain sight, he
is saying things that they understand that make him believe. All, yeah,
he's our guy.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
And I'll be honest, that went right over my head.
I mean, I'm looking at interviews he did leading up
to the election, even in October of last year, saying
when he was talking about immigration, violent crime, he said,
we got a lot of bad genes in our country
right now. You know, it's something now that you start
to connect the dots, I start to read it. I
(20:33):
want to say it's subtle, but it actually isn't subtle
at all. And if you know what to listen for
and you understand some of that historic ideology he was
dripping into his comments, it's very alarming. And yeah, this
ad campaign, unfortunately, is bringing all that back up. And
you know, we need to talk about why we say
things and what we really mean when we say them.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
And again we can't put on a meaning we can
attach it to President Trump. He was saying, was saying,
if he had that in mind. Maybe he did, but
he is something he's used over the years. I am
pretty sure at some point in my life I have
said when I see a good looking person, you can
even see a cute kid walking down the streets, that man,
that kid's got some good genes. Yeah, no matter what
the kid, white, black, other, you just kind of say that.
(21:17):
I think people have said that, but it does and
it's important if anything comes out of those robes, maybe
somebody here's it now and go wow, I didn't know
I can pass this on and I just learned something.
So if Sidney's Wenian an American eagle are at least giving
us that, then that's something, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I think that's a really good way to look at it,
because I really hadn't heard much about this good gene
bad gene thing from Trump, but now I actually went
into a deep dive and saw all the different times
he mentioned it, the race worse theory, all of that,
and this is a moment in time when yes, people
can be upset and not reach I think it's this
is part of the reason why it's good to be
(21:56):
able to have people way in from all different walks
of life, because you do, you learned something, You see
where this is coming from, and I think a lot
of folks don't understand the history of that. And I
don't think I was even considering that when I saw
the ad campaign at first, just her doing her thing,
sexy Sidney Sweeney, who looks good in a pair of jeens,
and sure, yeah, she does have good genes. Of course
she's gorgeous. But when you really start to realize the
(22:18):
impact of that and what it's referencing, and I don't
I want to believe again that American Eagle didn't recognize
what they were referencing historically. They were just being cutesy.
And sometimes, you know, you know, when you're doing some
of these campaigns, or even when you're speaking off the cuff,
being cutesy a lot of times can get you into
a heap of trouble because you don't realize necessarily where
(22:41):
that's coming from and where it's based from.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I think that's fair. Let's give everybody the benefit of
out on this one, and look, hope everybody possibly learned something.
Can't wait for the next campaign that Sydney Sweeney does,
because you know it's gonna be something.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Bathwater jeans. What's next?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I don't know. Oh maybe look a.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Maybe a dark rum. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Don't do that, Todney. All right, well, we appreciate you
hanging with Austin, and please give everybody a little bit
of a break. You can be upset, but you don't
have to fight. I guess ignorance with ignorance and bring
so much heat. We call this and sometimes the words
that are used in tabloid headlines backlash and outcry and
slap back and slam and all that. Not necessarily. There's
(23:33):
a discussion happening about this, and it's a worthy one.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yeah, and maybe and I learned something. We can all
learn something from this. So yes, we should all do
our research and take a look and not necessarily jump
to worst case scenarios. And I think that's just a
lesson for all of us today. So thank you for
listening to us. I'm Amy Robach along with TJ. Holmes.
Hope you have a wonderful day, everybody.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
That's two him
Hey, there are folks. It's July twenty eighth, and first
she wants us to buy soap that was made out
of her bath water. Now Sydney Sweeney wants us to
buy her jeans. Why are people pissed about this? Welcome
everybody to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Road.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
It's not that simple. It's almost anything she does people
are gonna pay attention to, and some people find a
way to criticize It's just gens. That's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's just gens. But it's a new ad collaboration Sidney
Sweeney has with American Eagle, and it's created such a
kerfuffle and it's controversial for more than one reason, according
to people who are lashing out at Sidney Sweeney and
or American Eagle. However, American Eagle stock is soaring because
(00:51):
of the whole controversy and perhaps just even because of
a very clever ad campaign that some folks are taking
issue with.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
So what can we just call this what it is?
This is a clever ad that plays on her appearance,
and this is selling sex period. I'm not overstating that right.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Uh yeah, and selling her beauty, oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
And that's nobody's criticizing have a problem with that? Is
that fair to say? I just want to establish where
we are here.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
No one's criticizing the fact that they're selling sex and
they're selling jeans in a very.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Hot body boom.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
That's been going on since the beginning of time.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So what's the other one? She had the soap I
can't remember the name of the group, but she had
a name of the organization, but she partnered with a
soap maker and they literally were selling bars of soap
that were made out or had a portion of her
bathwater mixed into it. Again, selling sex.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yes, she's the hottest thing, one of the hottest things
in Hollywood right now, and several brands are capitalizing on that,
and she's capitalizing on it as well. I mean, she's
an actress, she's beautiful, she's gorgeous, she's young.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Go get that money, girl. I got no problem with that.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
That's exactly what actresses. That's a I mean, let's just
call a spade a spade. This is what folks do.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
But again, we don't want to anyway criticize this young lady.
She should go get that money. She is as hot
as she is figuratively and literally. Some will argue because
this lot is about her beauty. Every time I walk
into Sephora, which is about two times a week, I
see her picture all over the place. I have seen
her more on an ad than I have in a movie.
(02:20):
That's me. That's just the truth. But go get it.
I'm actually excited for, happy for and see her capitalizing
on how hot she is right now. I applaud all
that she does. I didn't understand the genes initially.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Did you watch the ads?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I get it now. I get it now, but I
only would have gotten it on the ad that was
the one. There are different versions of the ad. This
one was American Egle, the one they had online where
she was putting the ad essentially on a billboard here
correct New York. That one that had genes crossed out
(02:57):
to say j E A n s instead of G
E n ees. Now, when I saw the word genes,
my head almost blue.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Right, And so in the ad, this is the big
ad that has a lot of people upset. They're talking hitlerresque,
they're talking all sorts of scary things like eugenics, et cetera.
But Sidney Sweeney says, genes, as in G. E, N E. S.
Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining
traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My
(03:27):
genes are blue. And while she's saying this, there's the
cameras panning up her body while she's buttoning up her genes,
and ends up with that, and that has gotten a
lot of people upset.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Okay again, I think still a lot of folks look
at it and don't understand the problem. And I hear
woke being thrown around a lot, and I really really
would love to get rid of of that word, because
woke denotes something that's negative or an overreach. It is
not woke to be or desire to be diverse, is
(04:03):
not woke to want to get rid of racist imagery
and thoughts. That's not wokeness. This is education. I think
here robes because I think a lot of people didn't
catch this, and as we're talking now still about genes,
I think folks will wonder, well, what's.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
The problem, right, because obviously American Eagle was being cute
and being playful about her having good genes because she's
so beautiful physically, and then they decided to make obviously
have some fun with that with their genes having good
genes in good genes, right.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
A lot of would say cute and clever.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Right, But some of the comments and it does get
you thinking. One of them getting a blue eyed, blonde,
white woman and focusing your campaign around her having perfect
genetics feels weird. And others said, hey, this slogan is
too close to the master race propaganda and echoed eugenics
era language used to validate and promote the superiority of
(04:58):
white beauty.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So that's some recognized it immediately. Genes, this idea, good genes,
this idea. Yes, eugenics we talk about, but this is
a good chance to do a history lesson because what
was the crap? What was the one we just had
with Love Island? What was it? The girl that got
kicked off because she was she made a comment had
(05:23):
a racial slur? Which girl was it? Is it? Ulyssa?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Was that the which the one who had used the
N word and just threw it around?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
The second one who was talking about the way she
looked and she was comparing herself to an Asian.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
She compared herself to the Asian eyes. She said, her
eyes looked a certain thing that we will not obviously,
we will not say what she said.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That young lady. I was surprised afterwards, and I said
to you, I think we got on and talked about it.
I said, she probably didn't know what she was saying.
She probably didn't know it was wrong. She probably didn't
know she was using a slur at all. And that's
what she came out and later said. But Robes, we
were talking to people in our circle, some younger folks.
I was shocked. They said, yeah, I didn't know that
was bad either.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Right. She thought she was just describing an eye shape
and didn't realize she actually used a word that is
very offensive to the Asian community.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Is it possible that this is where we are now,
because when this idea of good genes and this idea
of eugenics goes back to the eighteenth eighteen hundreds, and
this is exactly the logic that Hitler and the Nazis
used to justify the Holocaust. They are trying to rid
impurities out of the race. They even had laws back
(06:32):
at the time, did they not that folks who were
they sterilized them. You if you were you had a
disability or considered mentally ill, you couldn't marry, you couldn't
have you couldn't have kids. This was the argument used.
So people see genes and this idea of good genes
and a blonde haired, blue eyed, thin bombshell saying it
(06:55):
immediately this jumped out. But Rob's argument, is it possible
that somebody with an American eagle did not get it?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
One hundred percent? I don't think they could have. In
some of the comments in many of these forums said, hey,
was there not a black person? Was there not any
person of color? Was there no diversity in that boardroom
while you all were discussing your ad campaign? How did
not one person flag this? And I actually had to
(07:23):
go back and look up eugenics because I wanted to
know exactly what it is. What the definition of eugenics
is to your point what you were saying, it is
the study of how to arrange reproduction with a human
population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable.
And so yes, this was the exact study that was
(07:46):
used by Nazis in order to justify their treatment of Jews,
of as you mentioned, disabled people, or anyone of any minority.
So this is history, and some would say, scare being
touted now in an ad campaign without any regard to
what they're actually telling people, And she said offspring like those.
(08:09):
Some of the words she used were very eerie and
creepy and reminiscent.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
The good genes is the exact phrase that has been used.
So in the ad she had robes where she was again,
she was essentially putting up a billboard here in New York,
and it said genes g E n E S and
it was crossed out to say j E A N S.
(08:35):
That one was the one that disturbed me most. I
don't think if I'm not sure, if I hadn't seen
the word gene spelled out, I don't know if it
would have immediately jumped out at me. But all of
the ads talking about genes, they're talking about Janet, You're
talking about what many deem now as the perfect white woman.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, exactly. That's scary, And I just I think what's
even more frightening is that this did not cross anyone's mind.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Okay, so that's scary. The scarier scenario for me is
if they did know what they were doing, what if
they knew exactly what the hell this was gonna set off.
What if a company that gears and markets and stuff
towards a white audience that's full of white people who
are making these decisions about who they're going to go after.
We don't give a damn about a diverse community being
(09:31):
annoyed by this, because we are going out to the
people we want, and those people love this girl. Everybody
else be damned. That is another scenario that I hope
was not the case, but I'm sure plenty of people
wouldn't put it past them.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Wow, I hadn't even considered that it was acknowledged and
thought about, and then the decision was still made to
go ahead with the commercial like this, We won't know.
An American Eagle hasn't commented in any way about this
particular controversy. Are the people who are upset with their
ad campaign? And I mean, who knows what they're actually thinking.
(10:06):
But certainly it's been effective.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
But there are some I mean, we've seen it. I
can't remember all the examples now, but there have been
some companies who've taken things down and say, oh, we
didn't realize that, we didn't recognize we have seen I mean,
how many times and how many meetings I have been
in more so than you, meetings where I'm the only
black guy. You've never had that experience. No, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I've not ever been the only black guy in a room.
But I have.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Thirty people telling me something is right, and I'm the
only one raising my hand saying, hey, guys, you shouldn't
do that. I had a story once they wanted me
to do on fried chicken, and I actually said, hey, guys,
just heads up, just want you to know how me
getting up there doing some dance about freaking fried chicken.
It's going to be a bad look. And some folks
(10:49):
just didn't get it for a number of reasons that
they is it possible they got some twenty year olds
in the PR department. I said, Oh, this is gonna
be cute, This is gonna be cool.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I really, I want to believe believe that this is
just a matter of being tone deaf, that they just
maybe they're too young, as you point out, to even
think about World War two or the Nazis or the
whole eugenics. They might not even know what that phrase is.
They may just thought, hey, here, let's have some fun
with this cute, hot girl and let's talk about her
good jeans and have her be in good jeans. And
(11:20):
so I want to believe that is where it began,
an end that they didn't think about and perhaps didn't
know about. However, in a company that's been around for
as long as an American Eagle nineteen seventy seven, I
was going to say, nineteen seventy seven, created in your
birth year. And yes, they've been struggling as of late.
They've had some tough years, really really tough years. So
(11:42):
they thought this is going to be our big boost
Sydney Sweeney, there's no one hotter than that. We've got her,
and sure enough their stocks has rowed up. But what's
the backlash going to be? Is there going to be backlash?
Are there going to be boycotts of American Eagle until
they take this advertisement down? Is there going to be
any ignotionledge by the company that they inadvertently stepped into
(12:03):
something they didn't mean to and they could find a way.
How could they write this wrong.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
By admitting that they didn't recognize what it wants. It's okay,
they're never gonna come out admit, yes, we we were
standing by this. If you come out and say, you
know what, we didn't realize or we understand that some
people were offended by that language. We meant no harm
in what we were doing. You take the opportunity to say, yeah, okay,
we see it, we get it. We messed up. We're
(12:31):
going to do it differently. Oh, you don't even have
to say you messed up. Just acknowledge that it's hurtful
to some people do something. But they're going to be
quiet as long as this, as long as we keep
talking about it, because they don't have to say anything
yet because their stock is going up. Wow, not because
anybody's bought a single pair of Sydney Sweeney jeans yet,
but because everybody's talking, just simply talking about it. Whether
(12:51):
they call this meme stock, meme stocky's terribly understand. But
there's a stock that goes up, not based on any
financials of the damn company. It's because it's hot right now,
we buzz it.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It's because this is kind of crazy. The stock is
going up, they say, because of all of the comments
and all of the reaction on forums like Reddit and TikTok.
And so when you start to get people talking about
your brand good or bad, your stock sorees and it's
an inflated price, and so yeah, people are playing around
with the stock market over this, and that's concerning to
a lot of folks as well. Remember what happened with
AMC during the pandemic. People are comparing it's not gotten
(13:26):
to that level yet, but people are saying it could
because when people start buzzing about this, it just builds
and builds and builds. And so yeah, we're now in
a couple of days into this, and not only are
people complaining this is the big beef of courses with
the genes and the eugenics and all that, but there
are also concerns about she has a line or at
least a pair of genes in this whole ad campaign
(13:47):
that is going one hundred percent of the proceeds go
directly to domestic abuse survivors, and so a lot of
folks say, over sexualizing this girl and then having money
from some of the sales go directly to domestic violence
hotline just seems completely also tone deaf as well. So
they've got like a twofold attack from folks who are
(14:08):
not happy with this ad campaign that seemed.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Like an aside. It's not even in bold anywhere about this.
This should be a huge initiative. It should be led
with that idea, we are going to raise awareness with
domestic abuse survivors out there. Fine with Sydney's Sweeney front
and center, but that isn't the centerpiece message. It's about
look at how good this woman looks, and it's because
she has good genes. The ad I did have a
(14:32):
little bit of a discomfort with was the one that
she's talking about the gene and it pans down to
her cleavage and kind of stops there and she says, hey,
head up here, up here, like look at my eyes instead.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yes. So the second advertisement you see, yes, the camera
pans down to her chest as she's modeling a plunging
denim jumpsuit, so obviously the focus is on her boobs,
and she says, my body's composition is determined by my
jenes and then she says, hey, eyes up here, when
the camera goes and cuts to her boobs and then
(15:05):
it comes back up to her face. So she's leaning
into it, she's playing along with it, but it's.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Just uh and she can she can sidneys.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
And she has beautiful boobs body. That's absolutely true, and fair,
But folks just say, hey, this is just a little
bit difficult to swallow when you're looking at someone who's saying, hey,
these genes are going to go and be a part
of this campaign where some of the proceeds are going
to help domestic violence abuse victims, but let's talk about
my boobs.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
It's just tough for their part American Eagle and putting
out at least the ad. They said the ad was
a flawless wardrobe for the winning combo of ease, attitude
and a little mischief. They also went on to call
them a bold, playful ads. So they're almost leaning into
some tongue in cheekness. Not completely there, but that's all
(15:57):
they've had to say so far.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, so it's tough. I mean there are some there
are some really, really really tough comments out there. This
one on Twitter. I just wanted to read this one
launching a pair of genes with the hope of combating
domestic violence and then immediately making the campaign video all
about a woman's They use the word ti t yes
is the most well, I'm not going to say that
(16:20):
word they use either, gross marketing decision. You are rearing
whole legions of brain maggots. Oh my god, I mean people,
it's it's interesting how upset people get about this. I mean, look,
the proceeds for the one pair of genes are one
hundred percent going to city. I'm sorry, it's going to
Crisis text line. The genes are priced at eighty nine
ninety five, which is actually a fairly reasonable price for
(16:42):
a Sydney Sweeney jeens And so it's going to help.
The charity goes to help offer confidential mental support to
victims of domestic abuse. So it's a good cause. It's
a it's a great idea for a campaign, and I
think everyone appreciates the fact that she's lending her voice
and support to this organization, but it's getting lost in
all the uproar and all the rage surrounding these acts.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Maybe you've seen has she lent her voice to it?
But has she said is there any comment? I didn't
see any comment that she made at least about the
proceeds going to that. I'm could have missed it, but.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
No, that was just this was from the advertisement itself.
Everything I saw I just said, hey, But I didn't
see her flagging it or making a big point about it.
Other than a butterfly is on the back of the
pocket of the genes that goes to support that that charity.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
All right, So genes denim genes are controversial because of
genes with a G G e n e s. But
that phrase we've been talking about good genes. It's been
uttered repeatedly publicly by one Donald J. Trump over the years.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Welcome back everyone to this of Amy and TJ where
we are talking about Sydney Sweeney's new ad campaign with
American Eagle making a play on the word jens J
E A n s with her good G E n
e s. A lot of folks are very concerned about
this ad campaign and what it's saying about white beauty,
(18:22):
about I mean, even at worse some concerns about eugenics,
where this is the end all be all. We have
good genes means you are blonde, white, beautiful, blue eyes
and uhre hair, all that stuff. And understandably there are
a lot of folks who are calling out American Eagle
(18:42):
to say something, to do something, to be better, to
think smarter.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Racial hygiene is the way it's been put over the
years as well when we talk about good genes. So
this is something we have had pop up several times,
and President Trump has been called out about it over
the years, notably, I League it was twenty twenty during
the campaign against Joe Biden, where he was in Minnesota,
a very diverse place, at a rally. In his rallies
(19:10):
aren't necessarily known to be that diverse either, but he
talked about in front of that group, how you all
here have good genes. I think he said it on
more than one occasion, but he was making a reference
to them having good geens at a time he was
also criticizing the Biden administration for having more immigrants come
into that area. Well, these things were happening in the
(19:30):
same breath that he is telling them, sleepy Joe is
trying I think he used the phrase at the time,
it's trying to bring these immigrants into your community, this
community where you all got good genes. He's referred to
himself in interviews, including one with Oprah I believe back
in the eighties in which you talking about, yeah, I
got good jeans, I got good gens. Always talks about
good genes. He races. I can think he compared to
(19:52):
a race horses. Sometimes, yeah, you got a good racehorse
breeds with another racehorse, yet good gene. And so he
has spoken on this over the years, and if you
didn't catch some will argue he was putting out a
little signal to certain supporters, like in plain sight, he
is saying things that they understand that make him believe. All, yeah,
he's our guy.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
And I'll be honest, that went right over my head.
I mean, I'm looking at interviews he did leading up
to the election, even in October of last year, saying
when he was talking about immigration, violent crime, he said,
we got a lot of bad genes in our country
right now. You know, it's something now that you start
to connect the dots, I start to read it. I
(20:33):
want to say it's subtle, but it actually isn't subtle
at all. And if you know what to listen for
and you understand some of that historic ideology he was
dripping into his comments, it's very alarming. And yeah, this
ad campaign, unfortunately, is bringing all that back up. And
you know, we need to talk about why we say
things and what we really mean when we say them.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
And again we can't put on a meaning we can
attach it to President Trump. He was saying, was saying,
if he had that in mind. Maybe he did, but
he is something he's used over the years. I am
pretty sure at some point in my life I have
said when I see a good looking person, you can
even see a cute kid walking down the streets, that man,
that kid's got some good genes. Yeah, no matter what
the kid, white, black, other, you just kind of say that.
(21:17):
I think people have said that, but it does and
it's important if anything comes out of those robes, maybe
somebody here's it now and go wow, I didn't know
I can pass this on and I just learned something.
So if Sidney's Wenian an American eagle are at least giving
us that, then that's something, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I think that's a really good way to look at it,
because I really hadn't heard much about this good gene
bad gene thing from Trump, but now I actually went
into a deep dive and saw all the different times
he mentioned it, the race worse theory, all of that,
and this is a moment in time when yes, people
can be upset and not reach I think it's this
is part of the reason why it's good to be
(21:56):
able to have people way in from all different walks
of life, because you do, you learned something, You see
where this is coming from, and I think a lot
of folks don't understand the history of that. And I
don't think I was even considering that when I saw
the ad campaign at first, just her doing her thing,
sexy Sidney Sweeney, who looks good in a pair of jeens,
and sure, yeah, she does have good genes. Of course
she's gorgeous. But when you really start to realize the
(22:18):
impact of that and what it's referencing, and I don't
I want to believe again that American Eagle didn't recognize
what they were referencing historically. They were just being cutesy.
And sometimes, you know, you know, when you're doing some
of these campaigns, or even when you're speaking off the cuff,
being cutesy a lot of times can get you into
a heap of trouble because you don't realize necessarily where
(22:41):
that's coming from and where it's based from.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I think that's fair. Let's give everybody the benefit of
out on this one, and look, hope everybody possibly learned something.
Can't wait for the next campaign that Sydney Sweeney does,
because you know it's gonna be something.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Bathwater jeans. What's next?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I don't know. Oh maybe look a.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Maybe a dark rum. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Don't do that, Todney. All right, well, we appreciate you
hanging with Austin, and please give everybody a little bit
of a break. You can be upset, but you don't
have to fight. I guess ignorance with ignorance and bring
so much heat. We call this and sometimes the words
that are used in tabloid headlines backlash and outcry and
slap back and slam and all that. Not necessarily. There's
(23:33):
a discussion happening about this, and it's a worthy one.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yeah, and maybe and I learned something. We can all
learn something from this. So yes, we should all do
our research and take a look and not necessarily jump
to worst case scenarios. And I think that's just a
lesson for all of us today. So thank you for
listening to us. I'm Amy Robach along with TJ. Holmes.
Hope you have a wonderful day, everybody.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
That's two him
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