Actress Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle’s “Good Jeans” advertisement campaign has taken the world by storm, with both good and bad reviews. But that campaign isn’t the only one signifying a message, GAP recently released a new campaign featuring the famous girl group KATSEYE. Some people believe they are competing with each other, and here’s why.
On July 23, jeans manufacturer American Eagle launched a campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney. The campaign is titled “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” leading critics to believe this ad was implying a double meaning and the phrase “Great Jeans” plays on the word “genes,” as in genetics, referencing Sweeney’s blonde hair and blue eyes, traits historically associated with narrow western beauty standards.
This has created backlash, with some accusing the ad of promoting outdated ideals and possibly racial undertones. While American Eagle insists the campaign is simply about denim, the controversy has created conversation about representation in branding.
Fast forward to August 19, the GAP X KATSEYE “Better in Denim” ad was released. This ad portrayed multiple people of all varying looks. Katseye already stands out for their diversity; a girl band founded by a K-Pop Record Label but consists of members with different backgrounds, such as Sophia, who’s ethnically Filipina but was raised in Queens, New York.
Or Manon who was born in Zürich, Switzerland, who is ethnically Swiss-Italian-Ghanian. This is just a little bit of the diversity within the girl group, six members of six very different backgrounds allowing the members to display their culture and ancestry in their own way.
The campaign at first glance was just KATSEYE doing what they usually do, unique choreography, however, due to the close proximity in timing to the still trending Sydney Sweeney campaign, this leads critics to believe GAP is making a statement against American Eagle. The Katseye ad features many cultures, while defying typical beauty standards by demonstrating all different types of people, sending a clear message about inclusivity and a modern idea of identity.
It has not been confirmed if it was intentional, but the contrast between the two ads leads people to believe even more that American Eagle was intentional with the display people believe they demonstrated.
