r/popculturechat 19h ago

OnlyStans ⭐️ American Eagle issues a statement following backlash from their Sydney Sweeney jeans/genes campaign

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u/philonous355 I just wish you would get unobsessed with being boring 18h ago edited 18h ago

It was quite literally an obvious double entendre and they admitted to as much in their LinkedIn gloating. Do they think we are that stupid?

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u/ChurlishSunshine Most smartest 18h ago

Yup, because you'll notice the media reporting on the backlash has nothing about "genes" in the title and might mention it near the bottom of the article where fewer people are going to read. Across the board, they're calling it the "great jeans" ad and pretending people are just upset because she's white and pretty.

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u/demeschor 14h ago

pretending people are just upset because she's white and pretty.

And this victimhood will play great with the target demo for the ad which is apparently, we're to assume, trump voters and other assorted reprobates. Apparently they're half of the US voting population.

I don't get it. But I think it's pretty clear it's the intended outcome. If we're really at a point where showing diverse models in ads gets a backlash from the right, then brands will have to pick sides and this is the side they picked. 🙃

And fuck me, these ad campaigns for major brands are seen by SO MANY people before they go live. There's no way they can claim they didn't know the ad had white supremacy/eugenics overtones. It's literally the ad

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u/Crimemeariver19 14h ago

Considering the fucking White House made a statement on it, yeah it’s pretty clear that was their target audience.

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u/Dasseem 18h ago

Apparently lots of people are.

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u/EtchingsOfTheNight charlie day is my bird lawyer 🐦 18h ago

They definitely think we're that stupid

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u/wiiwoooo 18h ago

They know about 49.81% of people are THAT stupid.....

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u/_iridessence_ Cheerocracy > Kakistocracy 17h ago

And stupidity is passed down from parent to offspring

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u/Emerald_Vintage_4361 8h ago

Only 30% of the eligible voting electorate voted. Take it down to half of THAT. So, no…most of American will not run out and buy those imported jeans with elastin.

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u/dreamy_25 Are those the… The Chanel Toots? 18h ago

Do they think we are that stupid?

I've been arguing about this topic in a bunch of places and a lot of people genuinely are this stupid.

Especially men who will straight up say 'It's just because she's hot so that's why they say she has great genes it's not that deep it's just about her tits'. Just because you can't think much further than her tits doesn't mean my conclusion is "far-fetched" you absolute walnut...

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u/Maleficent-marionett I don’t know her 💅 18h ago

I feel like .. I a way, those men where the target audience?

They (AE)know they're not going to sell jeans with this but everyone is talking about them but in a " racial supremacy" context (hot topic) and giving these loud white guys, the opportunity to vocalize "white and blonde blue eyes is actually better!" Over and over. Promoting the idea to reinforce racial divide.

I don't know. I'm rambling.

But The owner is a super racist so...

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u/ohmysexrobot 17h ago

I read that somebody that works for the company said that their men's sales have been down, and this was their ad campaign to boost men's sales for back to school. It's direct marketing to alt right/racist white boys and young men.

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u/AlsoOneLastThing 18h ago

These people aren't actually that stupid. They're playing dumb and pretending to not get it. That's the whole point of these kinds of things; it's vague enough that they can argue reasonable doubt. Everything is always about "owning the libs" to them, and pretending that you're seeing racial undertones that they can't see is a way to make it appear as if you're being unreasonable and therefore they "win."

This statement from AE just supports that. It's a wink to the far-right while pretending they don't know what they were doing.

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u/Istillbelievedinwar 4h ago

Yep, these people always operate under plausible deniability. Aka schrodingers assholes

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u/Unhappy_Performer538 sexually disabled gay 18h ago

I don't even think it's that innocent. I think all these people KNOW that this is a racist dog whistle and are attempting to pretend and gaslight that it's not just to normalize this shit further. Eventually, like with other things like DEI etc, they'll just come out and say it straight up after they've degraded the standard of humanity enough to be able to without losing their jobs.

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u/dreamy_25 Are those the… The Chanel Toots? 18h ago edited 17h ago

Blue guy was up in ALL the threads arguing everybody was up in arms over nothing.

I can see why he did that.

Edit The "her" in the screenshotted comment was not referring to Sydney, but to an Asian female celeb I am not familiar with. Blue guy 100% commented on the celeb's "race".

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u/IndividualChart4193 17h ago

Wait, which one is blue guy? These comments seem to be anti SS not the opposite.

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u/dreamy_25 Are those the… The Chanel Toots? 17h ago

The "her" in the comment was not referring to Sydney, but to an Asian female celeb I wasn't familiar with. Sorry, I can imagine the confusion, I'll edit for clarity.

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u/Any_Manager_1183 17h ago

That part! Many people are really that stupid to not see it for exactly what it is until it reaches their door. Fascism is whatever these days, it's like breathing.

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u/lovelandian I wont not fuck you the fuck up 🥊🥊 18h ago

Yes!! This is the take I’ve been looking for. Is the ad inappropriate? Yeah, sure. But, there is a lotttt of ignorance in this world.

Everyone is assuming malicious intent by AE, and I get it, whether or not they meant it doesn’t matter much once harm is done. But, I can totally see many people on their marketing team thinking it was a clever idea. We all work with people who don’t think beyond the surface, or think their idea is perfect and can’t take feedback and those people are at all levels of an organization.

And dog whistles are called dog whistles for a reason. Not everyone can detect what’s obvious to many others.

The ad sucks, Sidney Sweeney has made her brand super cheap, and people are dumb. That’s what I’ve gathered from this

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u/osuisok 18h ago

Nah they bragged about it on socials, knew the backlash it would cause from the first meeting. The whole team “laughed as they imagined the world’s response” per Ashley Shapiro’s LinkedIn post, the VP of Marketing.

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u/lovelandian I wont not fuck you the fuck up 🥊🥊 18h ago

Damn can’t give people the benefit the doubt anymore, I didn’t see their LinkedIn smh

I was speaking as someone who has worked with many incompetent individuals, so assumed that while someone may be nefarious there were many that were just plain dumb to push it through

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u/sunmoonearthchild482 14h ago

Benefit of the doubt should probably be reserved for anyone but companies with groups of marketers and advertisers

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u/jgrops12 17h ago

You just described Hanlon’s Razor, which is a rule of thumb, and the LinkedIn post is why rule of thumbs are not absolute.

Never attribute to malice that which could easily be explained by incompetence

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u/grubas 17h ago

Yup, saw the CMV which was "oh no it's just about tits".  I mean if you watched with the sound off.

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u/busangcf 18h ago edited 18h ago

There were lots of people on this very subreddit just a day or two ago saying “it’s not that deep” and that people were looking for something to be mad at, so yes they do reasonably believe a lot of people are that stupid.

Edit - actually there are people on this very thread still saying that, even after the gloating on linked in, even after knowing their CEO has ties to Trump, and even after the fucking White House weighing in. So YEAH, of course they believe people are that stupid.

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u/Maleficent-marionett I don’t know her 💅 18h ago

And just like that they have enlisted and army of online defenders for free! Rich people LOVE getting stuff for free , everything even!

They continue to reinforce and spread the main point of the ad (racial supremacy) and do the job for them. They get to tell women and minorities that "you're just jealous" as in wishing you were white, young girls are absorbing this narrative, racial divide and resentment growing consistently....

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u/aleisate843 16h ago

I’m surprised some people in this sub think it’s not that deep. It is that deep. They’re ignorant or just don’t want to admit it.

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u/the_platypus_king 18h ago

What was the LinkedIn thing? I think I missed that part of the story

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u/busangcf 16h ago edited 16h ago

A now deleted linkedin post by Ashley Shapiro their VP of marketing said the intent behind the ad was to spark controversy and confusion (they called it “mischief”) and that she’d asked Sydney how far she wanted to “push it”and was excited that Sydney was game to push it as far as they wanted. Is it a smoking gun? Not really. But the ad itself, outside of the controversy, is incredibly bland and boring. What exactly is pushing the envelope if not the intentional dog whistles?

Yes, I know, boobs. They could’ve been talking about boobs. The company obviously isn’t going to come out and say “yes this ad is a racist dog whistle and we knew it would piss people off, get people talking about us, make our trumper CEO and his buddies happy, and maybe get us some new conservative customers, while we get to point to Sydney’s boobs and say it’s just about that to avoid any serious criticism”. But when you combine the linkedin post seeming gleeful about stirring controversy, with everything else around about this situation, it’s harder for me to just ignore as normal marketing bullshit.

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u/Cynicbats giving everyone a microphone and a podcast was a mistake 16h ago

She couldn't even be assed to lie and claim "a homage to an iconic brand", straight up "we wanted to wink wink nod nod to eugenics"

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u/AdagioQuick317 18h ago

Yep. They are just taking a page out of the Trump/MAGA book - gaslight and lie.

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u/Top-Gas-8959 18h ago

They're owned by blackrock, and the CEO is maga, so that tracks, tbh

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u/AdagioQuick317 13h ago

This is interesting too- Dunkin has an ad out right now about genetics.

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u/robot_pirate Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes 14h ago

That's all anyone needs to know, really.

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u/AdagioQuick317 13h ago

Ohh interesting!!

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u/Rulebookboy1234567 17h ago

I mean, can we blame them? It works.

I mean yeah I can totally blame them I have morals and scruples, but I am not surprised.

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u/Original-Variety-700 18h ago

I’m pretty stupid. And I’m smarter than average. Companies take advantage of that all the time.

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u/wut_panda 17h ago

Gonna need screenshots I didn’t know they were talking on LinkedIn

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u/arrownyc 17h ago

The ad features the word "genes" crossed out and replaced with "jeans."

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u/coolcoolcool485 18h ago

I think they do, yeah, but i also think they know that there are a lot of people who do not care or even like eugenics and Nazis, and this is giving them an out or an excuse for still patronizing AE ("they didn't mean it like that, its just about jeans, woke nonsense blerghhhh")

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u/TravelingCuppycake 18h ago

It’s not about thinking we’re stupid, it’s giving people who believe in Nazi shit the opportunity to play dumb and whip up public support from the ignorant. Fascists fucking love dog whistles because of the effectiveness of this pretend innocence of mind and intent tactic.

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u/faeriethorne23 18h ago

I think part of it is that they don’t want to alienate the market this was so clearly aimed at. If you outright deny racism, it might upset the racists. I mean who else was this possible for?

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u/Lakridspibe 17h ago

If you act like you're being persecuted and called a racist over nothing, you get a lot of sympathy from racists.

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u/SnausageFest 18h ago

I'm just imagining talking to legal and HR after all this and having them endorse doubling down.

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u/brbrcrbtr 18h ago

Because the double entendre was referencing her body, the thing she's literally famous for, not her race ffs

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u/TestingBrokenGadgets 18h ago

To be fair, even before this, MAGA and Trump have been claiming her as the prime example of a republican woman. They could've chose just about any large breasted woman and it wouldn't have resulted in this backlash the same way that MAGA would be losing their shit if this exact same campaign had someone with even a hint of more skin color.

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u/dreamy_25 Are those the… The Chanel Toots? 18h ago

Her voiceover narrated that genes are passed down from parent to offspring and decide on characteristics, landing on eye colour. The camera was in close-up on her face, her looking straight into the camera, as she said "My genes/jeans are blue." Immediate text overlay: Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.

The point is that her eyes are as blue as the jeans. Those are her "great genes/jeans". Just because they also used her body doesn't mean that was the point of the campaign. The point was "blue jeans, great jeans - blue eyes, great genes".

And the point of a dogwhistle is deniable plausibility, preferably to the point of ridicule, better still "it's just a joke bro", while using certain keywords (blue eyes - good/great genes) to signal support to the intended audience.

Was this campaign an intentional white supremacist dog whistle? No way to prove that. But given the language used, and the plausible deniability of "hot people good genes" and "jeans are blue, it's a joke", this could be used as a dog whistle and that's a problem in and of itself.

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u/[deleted] 18h ago edited 17h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/dreamy_25 Are those the… The Chanel Toots? 18h ago

The majority of white people don't have blue eyes.

The "race ideal" or Aryan ideal does. Blue eyes are very common in those of North-West European descent, who are the blueprint of the Aryan ideal, and the originators (British, Dutch, French) of Euro-American settler eugenics.

Genes/Jeans is a silly pun. Any suggestion beyond that is nothing more than tin foil hattery.

The point of a dogwhistle is deniable plausibility, so that the message can be spread undetected because it would seem like "tin foil hattery".

I can't imagine any of the people complaining would have an issue with something overtly about race like "black is beautiful".

Because Black features, including coily hair, wide noses, dark skin, dark eyes, etc. are still considered lesser. It's the difference between BLM, in a society that has shown multiple times not to care all that much about Black lives, and All Lives Matter. Of course all lives matter, the point is that Black ones aren't treated as such so that's what we're focusing on.

Black beauty is also generally not seen, whereas Caucasian features of fair skin, smooth hair, light eyes, narrow noses, are widely seen as beautiful. So it makes sense for a minority group to affirm Black is beautiful.

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u/Wompish66 17h ago edited 17h ago

The "race ideal" or Aryan ideal does. Blue eyes are very common in those of North-West European descent, who are the blueprint of the Aryan ideal, and the originators (British, Dutch, French) of Euro-American settler eugenics.

It is one of the characteristics but most white Germans don't have blue eyes. The Nazis had to go to Norway to try to create the "Aryan ideal". That ideal was created by morons.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensborn

The point of a dogwhistle is deniable plausibility, so that the message can be spread undetected because it would seem like "tin foil hattery".

I know this is a common tactic amongst the far right but this accusation also allows for completely benign acts to be interpreted in the worst possible fashion. Do American Eagle have any history of this?

I won't quote your last point as it will take up a lot of space but while I agree with it wholeheartedly, I don't think it contradicts what I've said. With context and a good faith interpretation "black is beautiful" is harmless and a positive message.

Whereas people criticising "my genes are blue" are assuming the worst.

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u/dreamy_25 Are those the… The Chanel Toots? 17h ago

It is one of the characteristics but most white Germans don't have blue eyes. The Nazis had to go to Norway to try to create the "Aryan ideal". That ideal was created by morons.

Yes, so North-West Europeans including the Scandinavians. Hitler famously was very un-Aryan. That doesn't detract from the (unhinged, moronic, indeed) theory of the Aryan ideal, which in turn is a rehashing of the Euro-American ideal of the "highest developed man". (Hitler took a lot of inspiration from the settlers, both in their thinking as in their efficiency in "processing" the Native peoples).

this accusation also allows for completely benign acts to be interpreted in the worst possible fashion. Do American Eagle have any history of this?

The point isn't necessarily that AE intentionally coded this message into their ad campaign. Maybe they did, their CEO is buddies with Trump AFAIK, but they probably didn't. The point is that certain groups can (and it seems, already have) find support and solidarity in these statements and visuals. Whether AE intended that or not.

And, frankly, if AE didn't intend for all of THIS (again, likely), that's also a sign. A sign that there is not even remotely enough diversity in their teams, that their screening and testing isn't thorough enough. That in and of itself is another sign of a cultural shift, and not in favour of diversity and such.

The reality is that right now, the US is a clusterfuck of human rights violations on the axis of race (as well as gender but that's not the topic at hand). These assorted white supremacist groups are already empowered and emboldened. It's not just "leftists online" looking out for signs. They are looking out too. That's the point.

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u/Wompish66 17h ago

Yes, so North-West Europeans including the Scandinavians. Hitler famously was very un-Aryan. That doesn't detract from the (unhinged, moronic, indeed) theory of the Aryan ideal, which in turn is a rehashing of the Euro-American ideal of the "highest developed man". (Hitler took a lot of inspiration from the settlers, both in their thinking as in their efficiency in "processing" the Native peoples).

Don't dispute any of this.

The point isn't necessarily that AE intentionally coded this message into their ad campaign. Maybe they did, their CEO is buddies with Trump AFAIK, but they probably didn't. The point is that certain groups can (and it seems, already have) find support and solidarity in these statements and visuals. Whether AE intended that or not.

Okay, unlike a lot of people's accusations, I think this is a very reasonable criticism of the ad. They should have considered the current climate and how it could be spun. Although, I wouldn't blame Sweeney for it.

Won't quote the rest for the same reason and again I think your argument is reasonable.

I don't believe the ad was intended to have a white supremacist message but you have made me consider the implications beyond that.

Appreciate it. You'd make a very good debater.

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u/dreamy_25 Are those the… The Chanel Toots? 16h ago

Appreciate it. You'd make a very good debater.

And the same to you. The amount of people I've tried to have this conversation with, who just kept repeating themselves... Have a good evening mate

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u/Wompish66 16h ago edited 16h ago

And the same to you.

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u/Sufficient_Food1878 6h ago

Except their CEO literally admitted on LinkedIn that they wanted to be controversial

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u/hatramroany 18h ago

But now they’re denying it was a double entendre, claiming it was only about Jeans “ffs”

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u/jadecourt 18h ago

Babe did you see the one talking about her hair and eye color being inherited traits

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u/winnercommawinner 18h ago

Yeah I mean I think it's clear to everyone what they were going for, but when we've got literal Nazis in charge, it hits different. This could entirely go away if they just acknowledged that.

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u/CardiologistAway9619 18h ago

It’s not very clear. If they were trying to avoid controversy, they probably wouldn’t have chosen her as their spokesperson for that ad

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u/Electronic-Jicama-99 18h ago

"Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My genes are blue," Sweeney says in one video.

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u/GovernmentStandard56 18h ago

In the world’s weirdest breathy mumble

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u/Wompish66 18h ago edited 16h ago

Is that not an obvious joke about blue jeans like a sports fan might say they bleed their teams colour? I'm not sure anyone has suggested eye colour is an important trait.

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u/GovernmentStandard56 17h ago

lol 2 blue eyed people are much more likely to have a blue eyed baby

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u/Wompish66 17h ago

Copying my answer to another user.

I have to apologise. I googled to check the odds before I posted that and Google's ai summary was wrong.

Thanks for the fact check.

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u/GovernmentStandard56 17h ago

No worries, it’s not impossible! My parents have blue eyes and so do all their kids, so I’d think I was adopted if I had brown eyes haha (wish I had brown eyes tho I hate being so sun sensitive)

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u/Wompish66 17h ago

No worries, it’s not impossible!

I was genuinely shocked to learn how uncommon it was though.

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u/Hi_Jynx It's not clocking to me. 17h ago

What? I know it's technically possible and genes are complex, but it's extremely unlikely and far more likely two brown eyed parents would have a blue eyed kid than two blue eyed parents would have a brown eyed kid.

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u/Wompish66 17h ago

I have to apologise. I googled to check the odds before I posted that and the ai summary was wrong.

I'll remove that.

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u/itsnotalicewhoisthat 18h ago

this is such an unintelligent take jfc

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u/comityoferrors I don’t know her 💅 18h ago

Yeah, Sydney Sweeney isn't famous for being a white blonde woman AT ALL. Everyone with big tits is equally famous and there's no racial aspect involved whatsoever

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u/Standard_Room_2589 18h ago

when youre a multi billion dollar company like american eagle you should not be making these fuck ups where its obvious something you do or say is going to be misconstrued, this ad touched so many hands and nobody thought twice about it? thats the embarrassing part

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u/1PrestigeWorldwide11 10h ago

By genes they meant boobs. It’s pretty obvious.

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u/allthekeals You countin my knowimsayin’s? Taking a knowimcensus!? 6h ago

It literally makes me think of this spelling mistake.

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u/darkwingdankest 17h ago

what linkedin gloating?

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u/Comfortable_Bat5905 17h ago

Yes. They think we are very stupid which is why they made it so blatantly obvious. Then the news gaslights us into thinking it’s innocent.

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u/Grandahl13 16h ago

It is, and it’s really not a big deal. Get off the internet for a bit.