Abbie Chatfield has taken to social media to give her two cents on Sydney Sweeney’s controversial American Eagle campaign.
The advert, which saw the Euphoria actress, 27, model items for the clothing brand under the tagline ‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’, blew up on social media, with some labelling the campaign as ‘Nazi propaganda’ and others calling the backlash ‘woke’ and ‘ridiculous.’
The podcaster and former reality star slammed Sydney and American Eagle in an Instagram rant posted on Tuesday, saying that it’s ‘not a good look’ and that the campaign points to issues of white supremacy in positions of power.
‘People are quick to either absolve Sweeney of fault, saying she is merely talent and “didn’t write the script”, OR they are putting the entire blame on her. I don’t think either is true,’ the 30-year-old captioned the post, which has amassed over 5,000 likes.
‘Sweeney is DEFINITELY at fault, after all, they couldn’t do the shoot without her. If she didn’t agree with the way the ad was taken, she could have easily issued a statement by now. But as was made public yesterday, she is a registered Republican,’ Abbie continued.
Sweeney’s political affiliation was initially reported by Buzzfeed.
Abbie Chatfield (pictured) has taken to social media to give her two cents on Sydney Sweeney’s controversial American Eagle campaign
The advert, which saw Sydney Sweeney (pictured) model items for the clothing brand under the tagline ‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’, blew up on social media, with some labelling the campaign as ‘Nazi propaganda’ and others calling the backlash ‘woke’ and ‘ridiculous’
In the clip, Abbie went on to blame the ‘eugenics propaganda’ ad on the lack of representation of minority groups in powerful positions.
‘People are saying, “How could no one have said anything?” People definitely said something.
‘Young people, I think people of colour, would have flagged it.’
She added: ‘The issue is no one listens to these people… because people of colour in these workplaces would have been silenced and dismissed and gaslit and told that they were overreacting.
‘Unless a person of colour is in power, nothing will change. And that’s also why it’s so important to have people of colour or people of different marginalised groups in power.’
Since the campaign’s backlash, American Eagle has defended face of the ad, Sydney in a statement released earlier this week.
‘”Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” is and always was about the jeans,’ the brand wrote. ‘Her jeans. Her story.
‘We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.’
Beginning late last month, Sydney starred in a number of ads for American Eagle’s denim campaign.
Since the campaign’s backlash, American Eagle has defended face of the ad Sydney in a statement released earlier this week
In one, the Anyone But You actress could be seen buttoning a pair of denim blue jeans while saying, ‘Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My genes are blue.’
Another clip filmed the star wearing a denim jumpsuit with a plunging neckline on the front as the camera panned down towards her chest.
‘My body’s composition is determined by my genes,’ she said, and stopped to add, ‘Hey, eyes up here.’ The camera then jumped back up to her face.
The campaign has since garnered a woke backlash from some critics, with one sharing on social media, ‘So Sydney (and American Eagle) somehow expect audiences to not interpret this visual as a euphemism for eugenics and white supremacy?’
Another said, ‘The Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad campaign is just modern-day Nazi propaganda. Like it’s wild how blatant it is. Things are weird right now, man.’
The words ‘great genes’ have been ‘historically used to celebrate whiteness, thinness and attractiveness,’ per a Salon report.
The outlet added that using the phrase also made the ads ‘seem to be a tone-deaf marketing move.’
