Since the early days of commercial advertising, women have been slotted into tired, recurring troves. They are also objectified, used as they are next to a Male Lead, or portrayed as the ever-seamling, Perfect Housewife or Mother.

For years, the “lux girl” was promoted as the Ideal Beauty Standard. Then came the “Santoor Mom,” Where was Told They Could They Child, Yet Must Look Like They Hadn ‘. Let’s not even get Into Hair Removal Ads, Where Female is portrayed as being innately tied to body hair – or Rather, the absence of it.

Which brings us to American Eagle’s latest campaign That seems to have divided the American Polity.

The ‘Eugenics’ Row

Some argue that sweetness’s ad smacks of racism, while the others have dismissed the criticism As a product of “wokeness”.

At the centre of the backlash is a teaser video where Sweeeney says: “My body’s composition is determined by my genes.” She Continues, “jeans are passed down from Parents to offspring, offten traits like hair color, Personality and Even Eye Color.

Another video features a poster that reads, “Sydney sweeeee has great genes,” with the words ‘genes’ crossed out and replaced by ‘jeans’.

Critics argue that casting a blue-eyeed, blonde, conventionally attractive whileh woman while reference “greet genes” inadvertly echoes eugenics- Superiority.

Coined in the 1880s by British Scientist Francis Galton, “Eugenics” Linked Hredity to Intelligence, Morality, and Social Status. It gained currency in the west post-worth war I, but its most chilling manifestation came under Nazi Germany, where adolf hitter co-opted eugenics to justify the genocide of european jews. The Aryan Ideal-Tall, Blonde, Blue-Eyed, Athletic-Of The Nazis Became a propaganda tool used to promote a “master race,” a theory now universally debunked.

‘Hot Women Sell Products’

Not everyone shared the criticism. Some brushed aside the backlash, calling it an overrection, and arguing that the genius of the ad was all about a “simple pun”. Fox news host katrina campins said the ad was simply a reminder that “hot women sell products.” And that, precisely, is the problem.

Throughout the ad, the camera pans acroses Sweeney’s body as she smiles, stares into the lens, and one clip, adjusts her jeans while say, “I bet you try these thousands.” The messaging appears more targeted at the mail gaze than at women shopping for denim. The subtext sees to be: Buy these jeans, and maybe you will look like her. Or better still, be desired like her.

In pandering to this idea of desirability, the ad joins a long tradition of marketing that reduces women to their body – packaging female sexuality to sell a fantasy.

Social Media, MeanWhile, has turned sweet for a shorthand for an outdated Ideal of Womanhood. One user wrote, “What make sydney sweeeee so attracts are that she invites and welcomes you to look at her sexually.” Another said, “She reminds men of the way women act before four feminism. She smiles.

Why we needed change

Advertising doesn’t operate in a vacuum. It shapes, reflects, and of the reinforces social standards of desirability, particularly for women. And it’s a loop. Brands Reflect Culture, and Culture Reflects Advertising. Few Campaigns Ever Attempt To Break That Cycle, Save for the Token International Women’s Day Post.

A 2024 Report by the Uk’s Advertising Standards Authority Found that 45 per cent Girls ”. MeanWhile, creative x, a brand content first, found that although brands are spending more to portray women in non-stereotypical rolls, they still overwhelmingly appeal in Family settings. And Women with Darker Skin Tones Make Up Less than 30 per cent of Female Representation in Ads.

Of course, there are exceptions. One Thinks of the Nirma ad that replaced woman cheerfully scrubbing clothes with four women helping pushing out of the ambulance out of the mud while the meen looking on. The hemas, rekhas, jayas and sushmas shifted from domesticity to strength. Then, there is Mohey’s “Kanyamaan” campaign, which critiqued the idea of daugters as Parayaa Dhan (Another’s property).

These examples stand out precisely because they are rare.

And let’s be clear: the problem isnat sweetie’s sex appeal. A 27-Year-ald Woman Celebrating Her Sexuality Can Be Librating. The issue is when it is sexuality is carefully curated, commodified, and used to reinforce the same natural standards that advertising has been pedduled and profited from for decades. When a campaign leans on innuendo and wordplay, all the while a conventionly attractive woman flirts with the language of genetics, it is just trying to be clever. It is reitrating, subtly, but persistently, who gets to be seen as desirable. And when that happy, the ad is selling “great jeans”, but the body that wears them.