In the languor of summer, investors were the first to sense the opportunity, sending American Eagle Outfitters' stock soaring by about 20% in a matter of days. The reason: a new ad campaign featuring American actress Sydney Sweeney. It was a throwback to the 1980s, with a blonde star leaning into her car engine while the viewer's gaze follows her neckline, before wiping her hands on the back pockets of her jeans and speeding off in her Ford Mustang: 1.9 million views on Instagram.

At another moment, the camera lingers on Sweeney's blue jeans before moving up to her blue eyes: "My jeans are blue," says the actress after praising the passing down of genes from one's parents. "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans," concludes a voice-over, creating ambiguity between "jeans" and "genes." At a third moment, viewed by 4.5 million online users, the actress puts up a poster of herself where the word "genes" is crossed out and replaced with "jeans."

Whether seen as highly glamorous or hopelessly outdated, investors don't care, since the controversy has been spreading online: "Supremacist dog whistles," accused influencer Chris Glover, known as GenericArtDad, on TikTok. "The new American Eagle Ad with Sydney Sweeney? That's Eugenics. Nazi propaganda. And it's blatant. Like, you don't even need media literacy. It's that on the nose obvious," echoed author Elle M. Drew on Threads.

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