A video from the fashion retailer American Eagle has created controversy over its use of the words "jeans" and "genes". Social media users are claiming the video is racist. The company produced the video for its new jeans. The 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." American Eagle said the play on words was part of its ad campaign.
Many people criticized the wordplay for being eugenic. Eugenics is a debunked theory that posits that humanity can be improved by focusing on "desirable" racial traits. Critics of the ad highlight the fact that Ms Sweeney is white, blue-eyed, and blonde. They suggest her looks are really "great genes". A former Fox News host called the criticism a "leftist meltdown". The U.S. Vice President called it an overreaction. The White House communications director said attacking the ad was "cancel culture run amok". American Eagle says its ad "is and always was about the jeans."
Try the same news story at these levels:
Jeans and Genes - Level 4 or Jeans and Genes - Level 6
Sources- https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2025/08/01/jd-vance-sydney-sweeney-jeans-ad-controversy/85474100007/
- https://apnews.com/article/american-eagle-sydney-sweeney-jeans-dunkin-e4d0cfade207d3b1e1b4e93531bfc082
- https://www.vox.com/culture/422121/sydney-sweeneys-american-eagle-ad-jeans-genes-eugenics-trump
Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)