Like every summer, retail stores pump out ads right before school starts to get more traction for back to school shopping. Unlike the previous summers, the ads this year did not sit right with the consumers. Ad after ad came out, and more controversy sparked.
Sydney Sweeney: American Eagle
Plastered on store walls, “Sydney Sweeney has great genes,” with the g crossed off to be a j, the campaign meant to be a little controversial but it blew up in a way nobody expected. July 23rd, American Eagle came out with an ad featuring one of the current most talked about actresses, Sydney Sweeney.
The ad depicts Sweeney lying down on a couch while the camera pans over her body. As the camera moves, you can hear her voice in the background talking about genetics.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, even eye color,” Sweeney said. “My genes are blue.”
With Sweeney having blonde hair and blue eyes, controversy sparked as soon as it was released. Critics claimed that American Eagle and Sweeney were promoting eugenics. Eugenics aims to increase “desirable” genetic traits. It was historically used to justify slavery, even today it is still used as racist rhetoric.
“I definitely think that it was a stupid idea having a blonde white woman saying she has good genes,” Sophomore Ryder Smith said.
Critics also claimed that the company was oversexualizing Sweeney, making her look more like an object rather than a person. Video after video was being made, either making fun of Sweeney, giving feedback, or making derogatory comments about the ad. The backlash got so big that American Eagle responded with an official statement.
“[The campaign] is and always was about the jeans, Sweeneys’ jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way.” American Eagle said.
Matt Rife: e.l.f. Cosmetics
Sitting high and mighty, feet up on the desktop, Matt Rife became the face of e.l.f. Cosmetics. On August 11th, e.l.f. Cosmetics released an ad to all of their social media accounts starring TikTok comedian Matt Rife, who acts as a lawyer fighting against high makeup prices.
e.l.f. Cosmetics left fans completely puzzled as to why they would hire Matt Rife as the face of this ad. He has never spoken about makeup in any of his stand-up routines, so the ad rubbed many viewers the wrong way.
That’s when “Internet detectives” started digging into Matt Rife’s past stand-up jokes. Lo and behold, they found something. Viewers found recent stand-up comedy shows of Rife’s, with him making jokes about domestic violence. To add more fuel to the fire, these jokes were made and aired on his Netflix comedy special, Natural Selection.
Rife talks about a waitress he encountered who had a noticeable black eye while he was dining with some of his friends. His friend asked him why she was waitressing and why she was not in the back cooking.
“Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye,” Rife said.
People were outraged with Elf for putting him on the front of this new campaign. Many felt betrayed and hurt because many of e.l.f. Cosmetics’ consumers are women.
“He’s being portrayed as the new face while knowing nothing about makeup. It’s really aggravating as someone who loves makeup and loves the brand,” Senior Tate Haberland said.
Beyoncé: Levi’s
Playing pool in her cowboy hat, Beyoncé stunned the audience with her Levi’s ad. Released on August 4th, the fourth installment of Levi’s ad campaign starring Beyoncé sparked a little more hate than the other three have. 
Starting back on September 30th, 2024, Levi’s aired a year-long ad campaign starring the world-renowned pop star Beyoncé. With each addition, she would recreate an old Levi’s ad dating back to the 1980s.
The past three installments were perceived pretty well with little to no criticism. But the fourth one was different. Fans started to notice the blatant sexualization that Levi kept doing with the ads.
With close-up shots of Beyoncé’s backside and zooming in on her chest, viewers just felt really uncomfortable. Critics claimed that instead of marketing the jeans like the ads should be doing, they instead felt marketed to her behind. Some compared the ad to the Sydney Sweeney ad, with the oversexualization of these two women, both denim companies being scrutinized.
“It feels just as bad as the American Eagle ad; it made me uncomfortable,” Junior Shayla Truett said.
