While many have been quick to criticize Sydney Sweeney‘s new ad campaign for American Eagle, one public figure has come to her defense following the onslaught of negative reactions.
Model and former athlete Danica Patrick took to social media this week to share her reaction to the suggestive ads featuring the Emmy-nominated actress, 27. One commercial zooms in on Sweeney’s chest while she discusses her “body’s composition,” prompting the Euphoria to say, “Hey. Eyes up here.”
On Wednesday, Patrick, 43, posted on her Instagram Story a video by internet content creator Kaylor Betts, who addressed the backlash by mocking a hypothetical critic of Sweeney’s ads.
“We have to boycott American Eagle,” Betts says in character, in the video Patrick posted to her Instagram. “If you haven’t heard of this yet, brace yourself. This is a trigger warning. You’re not going to believe it. They had Sydney Sweeney in one of their ads. And if you don’t know Sydney, she’s a white girl.”
Patrick called Betts’ video “hilarious” in her Instagram Story posted, while weighing in on the ad campaign herself.
“Can anyone tell me what’s wrong with the new AE ads?!” Patrick wrote Wednesday. “Very confused.”
The commercial mentioned above was criticized for objectifying women, while another another American Eagle ad — in an effort to play on the word “jeans” — struck viewers for how it seemed to emphasize how Sweeney’s genetics are the preferred ones.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,” Sweeney says in the video, before the camera moves to her eyes. “My ‘jeans’ are blue.”
Before all the backlash took shape, Ashley Schapiro — American Eagle’s vice president of marketing, media, performance and engagement — explained in a LinkedIn post how Sweeney played a major role in crafting the ad campaign’s tone.
“During a Zoom call with Sydney, we asked the question, ‘How far do you want to push it?’ Without hesitation, she smirked and said, ‘Let’s push it, I’m game,'” Schapiro wrote in her post. “Our response? ‘Challenge Accepted.'”
