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Sydney Sweeney jeans ad triggers immediate woke backlash

'Outnumbered' reacts to American Eagle receiving backlash for a new partnership with actress Sydney Sweeney after online critics deemed the ad campaign racist. 

Social media users went into a frenzy as singer Beyoncé Knowles dropped her own new jeans ad following the release of actress Sydney Sweeney’s controversial American Eagle (AE) ad.

The singer-songwriter and Levi’s jeans unveiled their latest fashion collaboration on social media Tuesday, featuring a blonde Knowles wearing a rhinestone-encrusted denim suit. The image sent shockwaves across social media, which had just been roiling over Sweeney’s ad that some media outlets accused of promoting "Whiteness."

"So Beyoncé can pose in Levi jeans and it’s art… But when a White woman does it, it’s a national crisis?" one user wrote, suggesting a double standard in how both women were being treated for their ads.

SYDNEY SWEENEY HAS NO FEAR OF FILMING NUDE SCENES AS SHE HIGHLIGHTS BODY TRANSFORMATION FOR ROLE

Social media users compared Beyoncé's new jeans ad to Sydney Sweeney's new jeans ad this week.  (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin / Contributor | Edward Berthelot / Contributor)

Though Beyoncé had been collaborating with Levi’s prior to Sweeney’s AE campaign, the latest roll-out from the pop star and fashion brand happened within days of the release of Sweeney’s ad, which caused a firestorm online with its tagline, "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans."

The line’s double meaning, referring to both the blue-eyed, blonde actress’ looks and her denim pants, had many online and in the media accusing the movie star and fashion brand of promoting White supremacist themes.

For example, far-left outlet Salon’s weekend editor CK Smith linked the tagline of Sweeney’s ad to "eugenics movements."

"Eugenics movements in the U.S. often promoted the idea of ‘good genes’ to encourage reproduction among White, able-bodied people while justifying the forced sterilization of others. Critics say those ideas still show up in modern advertising and influencer culture, often unexamined," Smith wrote last month.

Sydney Sweeney arrives at the Los Angeles special screening of "Americana" at Desert 5 Spot on August 3, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

Many of the social media responses to a blonde Beyoncé donning jeans in her own ad appeared to be referencing the Sweeney controversy.

"Those curves = good genes," one user wrote on Levi’s Instagram post featuring the ad.

Another wrote, "Sweeney looks better," and someone else declared, "We want Sydney Sweeney!"

On X, users commented on the Beyoncé ad in the context of Sweeney’s as well.

Commentator John LeFevre said people were letting Beyoncé get away with cultural appropriation in this ad, but would never allow Sweeney to get away with that.

"Hard to recognize, but this is Beyonce - with straightened blonde hair and lightened skin. If Sydney Sweeney did an ad in braids, the world would melt down..." he wrote.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

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