James Keys and Tunde Ogunlana discuss the public reaction to the American Eagle jeans advertising campaign which features Sydney Sweeney and makes a direct play on the word jeans and the idea of genetics, culminating in quote “Sydney Sweeney has great genes.” The guys also consider what it means for the public discourse that stirring up controversy and creating outrage is a very reliable path to money and power in the attention economy, particularly with how certain groups seem to be easily set up to play the same roles in these controversies over and over again.
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/01/nx-s1-5487286/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-explained-why-controversy-racist-eugenics-trump-bathwater-ad-klein-statement
https://www.newsweek.com/american-eagle-instagram-sydney-sweeney-jeans-ad-2111768
https://www.readtpa.com/p/the-sydney-sweeney-jeans-ad-backlash
