If you’ve been anywhere near TikTok or X (formerly Twitter) in the last few months, you’ve likely seen the fallout from Sydney Sweeney’s partnership with American Eagle. It wasn't just another celebrity clothing line. It became a full-blown cultural flashpoint. One specific image from the campaign—Sweeney leaning over the hood of a vintage Mustang—sparked a wave of "doggy style" memes and deep-dive analyses that had nothing to do with the actual denim.
Basically, the internet took a pun and ran it straight into a brick wall of controversy.
The "Great Jeans" Pun That Went Wrong
The campaign was titled "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans." On paper, it’s a standard, almost cheesy marketing play. You have a famous actress with specific features—blonde hair, blue eyes—and you make a play on words between "jeans" (the pants) and "genes" (the biology).
American Eagle even leaned into this by showing a video of Sweeney crossing out the word "Genes" on a poster and writing "Jeans." Simple, right? Not exactly.
Because the ad featured Sweeney discussing traits like eye color and hair being "passed down from parents to offspring," critics jumped on it. They didn't see a clothing ad; they saw a "dog whistle" for eugenics. Honestly, it’s a bit of a stretch for most people, but in the hyper-polarized climate of 2025 and 2026, nothing is just a joke anymore.
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Why the "Doggy Style" Meme Took Over
When the ad dropped, social media users started sharing a specific still of Sweeney leaning over the car hood. Because of the angle and the "genes/jeans" commentary, the term sydney sweeney doggy style started trending.
It wasn't just about the suggestive pose, though that was a big part of it. It was about the "style" of the ad itself—a throwback to the "Americana" aesthetic of the 90s, specifically the controversial 1980 Brooke Shields Calvin Klein ads.
People were using the term to describe:
- The literal photographic pose used in the American Eagle campaign.
- The "dog whistle" (hence "doggy style") allegations that the ad was signaling to right-wing or "trad-wife" ideologies.
- The way the media was "hounding" her for a simple modeling gig.
It’s a weird mix of thirst-posting and political warfare. You've got one side calling it "Nazi propaganda" (yes, really) and the other side claiming it’s the death of "woke" advertising.
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The Sully Bear Factor
Adding fuel to the fire was Sweeney’s actual dog, a German Shepherd named Sully Bear. In some of the campaign videos, she’s seen playing with the dog.
Trolls on Instagram actually started calling Sully a "Nazi pet" because German Shepherds were historically used by the German military in WWII. It sounds like a parody, but the comments were real. One user even called her "Swastika Sweeney."
It’s pretty wild how a rescue dog can get caught up in a denim brand’s PR crisis.
What Most People Get Wrong
Most people think this was a massive failure for American Eagle. It wasn't.
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Financially, the campaign was a monster. The "Sydney Jean" became the most popular style for Gen Z shoppers, and the company's stock actually climbed about 30% during the peak of the controversy. This is a classic case of "rage-bait" marketing. By leaning into a figure who is already a lightning rod for "culture war" debates, the brand ensured that everyone—from Fox News to The Guardian—was talking about them for months.
Sweeney herself stayed quiet for a long time. She finally addressed it in late 2025, telling People magazine that her silence probably "widened the divide." She claimed she just liked the jeans and didn't support the weird motives people were projecting onto her.
Actionable Insights from the Controversy
If you're looking at this from a cultural or marketing perspective, here is what we can actually learn from the whole mess:
- Context is King: In 2026, a pun isn't just a pun. If you use the word "genes," expect someone to bring up biology and politics.
- Controversy Sells: Despite the "cancel" attempts, American Eagle’s sales went up. People who felt the criticism was "too woke" bought the jeans to show support.
- The "Male Gaze" Debate is Back: Sweeney has become the face of a return to "traditional" Hollywood bombshell aesthetics, which makes her a target for critics who prefer more diverse representation in fashion.
If you’re trying to keep up with the latest on Sydney Sweeney’s career, her next big move is the Christy Martin biopic. She’s been posting training videos of her boxing, which is a massive shift from the "glamour girl" image in the jeans ads. It’ll be interesting to see if the internet finds a way to make that controversial, too.
To see how the aesthetic of the campaign compared to the 90s era it was mimicking, you can look up the original Brooke Shields "My Calvins" posters—the parallels are almost identical, right down to the lighting and the "doggy style" leaning poses that the internet can't stop talking about.