It amazes this editor that the ad campaign American Eagle launched a couple of days ago, with actress Sydney Sweeney, has taken over the news cycle. As Twitchy reported, the Washington Post and ABC's Good Morning America both looked into the "controversial" ads, which say that Sweeney "has great jeans." The ad has been called Nazi propaganda because of its subtle nod toward eugenics. The fact is that Sweeney does have great genes. She's a beautiful white woman, and that's somehow related to Naziism.
End Wokeness did a Google search for headlines about the American Eagle ad, and this is what he found:
Wow, Yahoo, The Independent, the Washington Post, NBC News, Fox News, Salon.com, and more all picked up on the "controversy." We believe Newsweek's headline gets cut off in that screenshot; it reads, "Sydney Sweeney Fronts Ad Campaign for Jeans — Sparks Debate About Eugenics."
Sparks debate among idiots, more like it.
Perhaps the hottest take of all comes from MSNBC, where Hannah Holland, a producer for MSNBC's "Velshi," writes that the American Eagle ad "shows an unbridled cultural shift toward whiteness."
Holland writes:
The backlash has been swift and fierce, and some of it, at least, if you ask me, is fair. The internet has been quick to condemn the advertisement as noninclusive at best and as overtly promoting “white supremacy” and “Nazi propaganda” at worst. These critics point to the copy and the implication of calling a white person superior because of their genes. In the videos, Sweeney exudes a sort of vintage sexiness that caters to the male gaze. She embodies the near mythological girl-next-door beautiful but low-maintenance sexy femininity that dominated media in the 1990s and the early 2000s. Together, the campaign feels regressive and not retro, offensive and not cheeky.
The advertisement, the choice of Sweeney as the sole face in it and the internet’s reaction reflect an unbridled cultural shift toward whiteness, conservatism and capitalist exploitation. Sweeney is both a symptom and a participant.
Capitalist exploitation … that's one we hadn't heard yet.
She continues:
I cannot blame Sweeney for financially benefiting from a system that is going to exploit her either way. Still, her willingness to participate in such an obviously damaging — and, depending on who you ask, even dangerous — advertising campaign as the latest American Eagle collection is disappointing.
Advertisements, from American Apparel to the notorious Pepsi campaign with Kendall Jenner to a 1960s advertisement likening a new stove to a happy marriage, reflect what is pervasive in American culture at the time. Ads are always mirrors of society, and sometimes what they reflect is ugly and startling. Popular American culture is, indisputably, becoming more puritanical and more conservative.
Popular American culture is becoming more puritanical and conservative? We thought it was obvious from all the white women cosplaying as handmaidens from "The Handmaid's Tale," a hysterical take on the Reagan years by Canadian Margaret Atwood, which has been adapted into a popular Hulu series. So if America is becoming more puritanical, wouldn't American Eagle put Sweeney in a red gown and white hood?
The conclusion here is that Holland is a moron.
What is "whiteness" anyway? We're kind of clueless since the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture took down its display explaining certain aspects of whiteness, including rugged individualism, the Protestant work ethic, objectivity, the nuclear family, the scientific method, respect for authority, and delayed gratification. The last thing we need is a cultural shift in that direction.