The clothing company American Eagle released an advertisement starring Sydney Sweeney that was deemed both racy and racist because she spoke seductively about “genes” that are “passed down from parents to offspring,” then declared that “my jeans are blue.” She was wearing blue jeans, but she also happens to have blue eyes and blonde hair, so the brief advertisement was fiercely condemned as promoting literal fascism by stupid, bitter people — in my assessment, mostly unattractive women who are obviously jealous.

One Asian woman on social media accused American Eagle of implicitly arguing that everyone with a different racial or ethnic background is de facto ugly and therefore “less human.” Others have shrieked that the “great genes/jeans” pun in the advertisement is “the language of eugenicists” and yet another iteration of “Nazi propaganda.” (I reckon that the “genes” joke doesn’t have much to do with her blue eyes or hair color or race but rather is a reference to every other feature of her body that men love. However, I won’t waste time trying to reason with narcissistic progressive women on the internet whose objective in life is to complain.)

By contrast, normal people perceived the advertisement as signifying a departure from the 2020-style politics that featured unattractive and overweight minority-group members spouting left-wing slogans. We had come to believe that the DEI organ at each corporation required every single promotional material to include an interaction with an interracial couple, unless the advertisement was supporting abortion or condemning Republicans. After years of visual assault during commercial breaks, it was refreshing — even shocking — that a shapely, pretty white woman would be the only person in an ad.

But the reason to believe that American Eagle’s collaboration with Sweeney represents a “cultural change” or “vibe shift” is not because of what was contained within the advertisement, but what happened after. Sweeney has not issued a long, self-loathing apology for her “white privilege” or promised to read Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist or proclaimed that she donated big bucks to Black Lives Matter as reparations. Likewise, American Eagle has not retracted the advertisement, canceled its partnership with Sweeney, replaced her with someone like Lizzo, or issued a groveling statement about how it made a grave mistake and will “do better” in the future.

Obviously, wokeness isn’t “dead,” because delusional activists have produced a news cycle yet again by alleging that something completely innocuous is “fascist.” But they no longer wield the power that intimidates corporations, companies, and institutions to cower.