A video from the jeans maker American Eagle has created a storm. Social media users say the company's use of the words "jeans" and "genes" in a video is racist. The company's new jeans video stars actress Sydney Sweeney. She tells the camera: "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue." The video closes with the line: "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans."

Critics of the say the wordplay is eugenic. Eugenics is a theory that suggests humanity can be improved by focusing on "desirable" genes. The critics say Ms Sweeney is white, blue-eyed, and blonde. A former Fox News host called the criticism a "leftist meltdown". The White House called it an overreaction, and that attacking the ad was "cancel culture run amok". American Eagle says its ad "is and always was about the jeans."