This week, major news outlets like ABC and MSNBC have been up in arms over a recent instance of a model doing her job, which was of course, modeling. Calls of “white supremacist dog whistles” and “Nazi propaganda” were the topics of legacy media over a recent American Eagle ad involving actress Sydney Sweeney and her “great jeans genes” play on words.
MSNBC producer/opinion writer Hannah Holland wrote an opinion piece on the “issue” on Monday. Holland, who found herself seemingly suffering from some severe apophenia, had written articles such as “The world of ‘The Hunger Games’ feels disturbingly familiar in Trump’s America,” and “The message behind Melania Trump’s hat.”
The latter claimed that because Melania wore a dark blue hat compared to a light blue hat at Trump’s first inauguration, she was showing undertones that “the next four years are going to be as dire as they seem.”
Holland viewed the American Eagle shift from woke, obese models as an offensive attack of non-inclusivity that promoted “Nazi propaganda.” She even went as far as to say Sweeney's willingness to participate in the ad was “obviously damaging — and, depending on who you ask, even dangerous.”
The only people who found an ad for jeans offensive were the people chronically online that couldn’t fathom a clothing company advertising pants on good looking women. If an ad of a 27-year-old actor in jeans drew connections to 1930s Germany eugenic practices, where they quite literally rounded up and killed people who weren’t Aryan, you need to seriously reevaluate how much time you’re spending online.
You want to know how you’re not under attack or in serious danger of American Eagles supposed eugenics? You can make delusional takes like this online with no serious repercussions.
Holland then claimed that ads like these and a cultural shift to the right had led to “Young women being radicalized through so-called clean skin care and healthy eating.” Since when did taking care of yourself through healthy eating turn into “far-right ideology?”
ABC’s Good Morning America First Look ran with the comparison early Tuesday morning, even showing clips of a deranged professor’s comments on the ad:
ANDREW DYMBURT: The ads are for American Eagle, and the tagline is Sydney Sweeney has great genes, now, in one ad , the blonde haired, blue eyed actress talks about genes as in DNA being passed down from her parents.
ALLY: The play on words is being compared to Nazi propaganda with racial undertones
[CLIP OF PROFESSOR ROBIN LANDA TALKING ABOUT THE AD]
ROBIN LINDA: The pun good genes activates a troubling historical association for this country. The American Eugenics Movement and its prime between 1900 and 1940 weaponized the idea of good genes just to justify white supremacism.
This notion that a white girl in jeans was going to spark some sort of uptick in eugenics programs, like those weaponized by a literal eugenics movement from the first half of the 20th century was nothing short of insanity. Those subhumans from the American Eugenics Society weren’t making harmless puns that good looking people have good genes, they were actively calling for the extermination of entire races.
Despite the fake backlash pushed by the media, American Eagles’ stock soared 15 percent in the days following the ad, proving that a pushback against woke culture could be an effective marketing campaign.
Instead of pushing crazy narratives, ABC and MSNBC could have included how Sweeney’s limited-edition signature jean donated 100 percent of profits to supporting survivors of domestic violence.
The full transcript is below. Click "expand" to view:
ABC’s Good Morning America First Look
4:53:56 AM ET
July 29th, 2025
RHIANNON ALLY: Time to check the pulse, we begin with the backlash over a new ad campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney.
ANDREW DYMBURT: The ads are for American Eagle, and the tagline is Sydney Sweeney has great genes, now, in one ad , the blonde haired, blue eyed actress talks about genes as in DNA being passed down from her parents.
ALLY: The play on words is being compared to Nazi propaganda with racial undertones
[CLIP OF PROFESSOR ROBIN LANDA TALKING ABOUT THE AD]
ROBIN LINDA: The pun good genes activates a troubling historical association for this country. The American Eugenics Movement and its prime between 1900 and 1940 weaponized the idea of good genes just to justify white supremacism.
DYMBURT: Despite that backlash, American Eagle stock has been soaring.
(...)
