Another celebrity and brand have come under fire following the release of an advertisement mentioning ‘genetics.’
Actor Gavin Casalegno of The Summer I Turned Pretty stars in Dunkin Donuts’ latest commercial for their Summer Refreshers, where he credits his tanned skin to his ‘genetics.’
‘Look, I didn’t ask to be the king of summer. It just kind of happened,’ Gavin, 25, says as he lounges by a pool with the Dunkins drink in hand.
‘This tan? Genetics!’ he says. ‘I just got my color analysis back and guess what? Golden summer! Literally.
‘I can’t help it. Every time I drink a Dunkin Golden Hour Refresher, it’s like the sun just finds me. So if sipping these refreshers makes me the king of summer, guilty as charged.’
The ad has drawn comparisons to Sydney Sweeney’s polarizing American Eagle denim campaign, which features the blue-eyed actress in an ad containing the tagline ‘Sydney Sweeney has great jeans’ (a deliberate play on the phrase ‘great genes’).
A Dunkin Donuts ad starring Gavin Casalegno is now facing backlash after it saw the actor credit his tan to ‘genetics’ in the commercial
It comes after the release of Sydney Sweeney’s ad for American Eagle, which also sparked controversy for it’s ‘Sydney Sweeney has great jeans’ tagline
DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for both Casalegno and Dunkin Donuts but did not immediately hear back.
Fans did not take to the mention of genetics kindly as they weighed in on the ad on TikTok.
‘Another white blonde, hair blue eye,’ one TikToker vital_media_marketing commented in a video critiquing the alleged messaging behind the ad.
In the comments section of both that particular video and Dunkin’s original TikTok post of the ad, social media users weighed in over how unnerved they were by the campaign.
‘why are ads so obsessed with genetics all of a sudden,’ one commenter chimed in.
‘IT’S GIVING SYDNEY SWEENEY AD,’ another observed.
‘genuinely what does a drink have to do with genetics?’ another asked.
‘Why are the corporates so obsessed with yt supremacy,’ another asked.
‘wow, if i had a nickel for every time a popular company rolled out ad campaigns filled with genetic/eugenist dog whistles THIS WEEK, i’d have two nickels. which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?’ another asked.
Several also said they would no longer be doing business with Dunkin.
‘I’ll never have Dunkin’ Donuts again,’ another vowed.
‘I guess Dunkin just joined the boycott list with Starbucks,’ one said.
But not everyone was in agreement that the commercial was sending a message about eugenics.
In the ad, Gavin credits his tanned skin to ‘genetics’
Viewers were unnerved by the mention of ‘genetics’ in the ad, particularly after Sydney’s campaign
TikToker MelMelTalks called the commercial’s release ‘bad timing’ as she explained how the new Dunkin Donuts drink actually represents Gavin’s character on The Summer I Turned Pretty.
‘Oh my God! It gets to a point guys! This ad is not about eugenics, it’s about the golden summer and the drink!’ she insisted.
‘Most of you guys don’t watch The Summer I Turned Pretty, and the ones that do, y’all can’t separate fiction from reality and you never liked Gavin.
‘Is it bad timing? Could they have waited or just scratched it… but there are deadlines they had to meet and they probably wanted to get this out before the end of summer because he’s in the show The Summer I Turn Pretty! And if this would have released before the Sydney Sweeney ad, we would not having this conversation,’ she said.
‘He also is known for being the more like, outside, outdoorsy, athletic, tan.’
But TikToker MelMelTalks disagreed with the accusations the ad was promoting eugenics as she pointed out how Gavin’s character on The Summer I Turned Pretty was a perfect fit for the Dunkin drink
Gavin plays Jeremiah on The Summer I Turned Pretty, a character MelMelTalks noted was known for being ‘outdoorsy’, ‘athletic’, and having a tan
The ‘great jeans’ tagline was a deliberate play on the phrase ‘great genes’
‘He gets like the surfer, the fun, the golden retriever type, and it was really a play on that… “Oh this tan, it’s genetics,” it’s just saying that he’s meant to be the boy of the summer. It’s just bad timing.’
Indeed, the commercial comes just days after an American Eagle campaign starring Sydney Sweeney sparked controversy.
Last week, the Euphoria star, 27, became the face of American Eagle’s fall denim campaign featuring the tagline, ‘Sydney Sweeney has great jeans’ — a deliberate play on the phrase ‘great genes.’
One viral clip shows Sweeney standing in front of a poster reading ‘Sydney Sweeney has great genes,’ with the word ‘genes’ crossed out and replaced with ‘jeans.’
Another video includes Sweeney saying, ‘Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,’ as the camera pans to her blue eyes, then she adds, ‘My jeans are blue.’
While the campaign’s clever wordplay was intended to be playful and bold, it ignited accusations on social media platforms of promoting racial undertones, eugenics, and white supremacy — largely due to the focus on genetics alongside Sweeney’s blue-eyed image.
