This is why Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney's controversial ‘Great Genes/Jeans’ ad grates so much

Dubai: In India, we’ve been spoon-fed the same script for generations: the darker you are, the more likely you are to be cast as the villain or the vamp in a movie and in life.

But if you’re fair? Suddenly doors fling open – you get the dream job, the dishy husband or date, and a whole shelf of fairness creams to keep the colonial fantasy alive. Melanin? Apparently a crime.

So forgive me if I gagged a little when American Eagle rolled out its Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans campaign. A limited-edition denim drop for charity batting for domestic abuse. Cute.

In the ad, Sweeney earnestly lectures us: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,” before dropping the punchline: “My jeans are blue.” Riveting stuff. Darwin just rolled in his grave.

The video leans all the way into the pun no one asked for – jeans, genes, good stock.

American Eagle promises that this special pair of jeans will raise awareness for domestic violence. Because nothing says “stop the cycle of abuse” like a pair of distressed bootcuts and a crash course in ninth-grade biology.

Here’s the problem: blond hair, blue eyes, all point towards ‘good stock.’

We’ve all seen this movie before, and spoiler alert—it ends in a bunker. It’s giving 1940s propaganda with a 2025 TikTok filter.

Critics called it tone-deaf. I call it a masterclass in missing the point. No one in that boardroom – and I’d bet my last bottle of moisturiser it was a very beige boardroom – thought, “Huh, maybe making a blonde bombshell the poster child of genetic excellence is a little… loaded?”

This reminds me of Indians and their problematic matrimonial ads that still read like breeding manuals: “Fair, slim, convent-educated bride wanted.” The word 'wheatish' is bandied about if the girl is a few shades darker than white-milk latte. Every dusky girl grows up as the sly sidekick in someone else’s fantasy. Now American denim is selling the same dream, just in bootcut.

Also, let's not forget the advertising world is flooded with brands that confuse provocation for progress. Think Pepsi handing Kendall Jenner a fizzy soda to solve systemic racism, Balenciaga dressing toddlers like they’re heading to a Berlin dungeon, or Nivea’s “White Is Purity” tagline that sounded like it was written in a bunker. The bottom line is the same for all these advertising misfires: a glossy, tone-deaf fantasy that collapses the second it hits the real world.

Coming back to Sweeney ad, a humble request to its makers: if you want to raise money for survivors of abuse, here’s a radical idea. Can you just let women keep their clothes on? Or better still, hire a few models who don’t look like they stepped out of a eugenics brochure. And maybe, just maybe, don’t confuse charity with soft-core thirst-traps.

Great jeans? Sure. But until fashion ditches its obsession with “great genes,” this whole thing looks like the same old pair of pants – just whiter, tighter, and deeply out of touch.

This denim ad is isn't the first one to stoke outrage. Here's another ten instances which made my skin crawl:

1. Pepsi – Kendall Jenner Protest (2017)
Tried to solve systemic racism with a soda hand-off. Looked like a Vogue shoot at a protest.

2. Balenciaga – BDSM Teddy Bears (2022)
Luxury brand thought kids holding bondage teddy bears = edgy holiday vibes. It was…not.

3. Nivea – 'White is purity' (2017)
Launched an ad with that exact tagline. No one in the room stopped them.

4. Dove – Whitewashing transformation (2017)
Showed a Black woman taking off her shirt to “turn into” a white woman.

5. Burger King – Women belong in the kitchen (2021)
Tweeted this for International Women’s Day thinking it was clever. It wasn’t.

6. Heineken – 'Lighter Is Better' (2018)
Beer bottle literally slides past Black people before reaching a light-skinned woman.

7. McDonald’s UK – Dead Dad Filet-O-Fish (2017)
Exploited a boy’s grief over his dead father to…sell a sandwich.

8. Bud Light – Dylan Mulvaney Debacle (2023)
Partnered with a trans influencer, then panicked and alienated everyone.

9. Calvin Klein – Virtual pregnant Bella Hadid (2020)
Created a CGI pregnant Bella Hadid for “inclusivity.” Everyone asked: why not hire a real pregnant person?

10. Gillette – The best men can be (2019)
Aimed at toxic masculinity but ended up feeling like a corporate TED Talk.