The American Eagle ad featuring Sydney Sweeney is a big deal because of what it reveals.

MSNBC:  Sydney Sweeney’s ad shows an unbridled cultural shift toward whiteness

Here’s the subtitle for that article:

Advertisements are always mirrors of society, and sometimes what they reflect is ugly and startling.

A fair reading of the title and subtitle is that whiteness is ugly and startling.

There is an easy trick to determine if someone is racist.  Would they say the same thing about a different race?  Hannah Holland, the author of the opinion piece, is openly racist.  Perhaps she did not write the title and subtitle.

The backlash has been swift and fierce, and some of it, at least, if you ask me, is fair. The internet has been quick to condemn the advertisement as noninclusive at best and as overtly promoting “white supremacy” and “Nazi propaganda” at worst.

There is no backlash against the Sydney Sweeney ad.  It’s phony.  There are something like a billion people on social media.  Social media is not the internet, and social media doesn’t accurately reflect society.  The author speaks only for herself.

It’s not possible for an ad with only one person, to be noninclusive.  The ad only includes one person.  The author apparently believes that inclusive means no White people.

These critics point to the copy and the implication of calling a white person superior because of their genes.

A racist can only see race.  Sydney has nice skin, but that is not the attribute that makes her stand out.  She does have good genes.  White people can have good genes.  Racists will have a problem with that sentence. 

In the videos, Sweeney exudes a sort of vintage sexiness that caters to the male gaze.

There it is!  That is the problem that Progressives have with the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad.

After looking at prior American Eagle ads, I’m confident in my analysis.

Progressives are not really upset about the jeans/genes wordplay.  This ad is from 2020.

It shows a single White woman, and alludes to the jeans/genes idea.  It is not as on-the-nose as the Sydney Sweeney ad, but it’s in that direction.  This woman seems nice, but she is not genetically gifted in any obvious way.  This ad did not draw any comment or controversy.

Progressives enthusiastically supported eugenics.  A hundred years ago, Margaret Sanger, founded Planned Parenthood.  She is a hero to the Progressive movement and supported eugenics.

Sydney Sweeney’s ad is not controversial because she is fit and beautiful.  In prior ads, American Eagle had a couple of chunky models in a group, but they did not try to convince us that morbidly obese tubs of lard were sexy.  American Eagle has always had good looking women in their ads.

This ad is from 2017.  Over the years, American Eagle has had many different types of ads for different purposes.  I looked at a bunch of them on Google.  This is a representative multi-person ad.

In almost all of the American Eagle ads of the past decade or so, men and women are interchangeable.  The clothing and stance of men and women are not distinctly different.  The women aren’t feminine and the men aren’t masculine.  Both sexes are leaning toward the androgynous middle.

Sydney Sweeney oozes vintage sexiness that caters to the male gaze. 

Progressive culture hates men.  Producing media that specifically appeals to men undermines your people.  Men might forget their place in society.  It would be like allowing your servants to look you in the eye.

Cleavage is forbidden in modern media and wasn’t present in any of the prior American Eagle ads.  Certainly nothing like the pneumatic decolletage exhibited by Sweeney.

Progressive women are afraid to compete for male attention, so want to shut down the game.  Since it’s based upon evolutionary biology, real women understand the game, and have been playing it forever.

The gorgeous Sophia Loren didn’t like how Jayne Mansfield played the game in 1957, but she didn’t blame men  for it.

Don’t buy from American Eagle if you don’t like their clothing.  Don’t watch Sydney Sweeney if you find her irritating.  Strongly objecting to the Sydney Sweeney ad because she looks desirable, indicates a deep insecurity or even self-hatred.  Being appalled that an ad could be produced to appeal to men, suggests an authoritarian sexist.

I do hope that Sydney Sweeney’s ad indicates a cultural shift.  The male gaze has been under-served, and Hollywood has suffered for it.  Take the MCU.  Here is Brie Larson as Captain Marvel and as Brie Larson at the movie premiere.

An attractive actress has to be presented in a modest fashion, while male superheroes take their shirts off to cater to the female gaze.  Just give us something to look at.

Alternatively, unattractive actresses are chosen.  Here are Spider Man’s girlfriends.  2002 on the left, and 2017 on the right.

Modesty is not universally applied.  Good looking women aren’t supposed to look good, and men aren’t allowed to take a good look.