How is this a controversy?  Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ads…I just don’t get it. Actually, I do get it. And it’s pathetic.  A brand used a beautiful woman to promote their product. That’s it. 

She’s in great jeans. She has great genes. 

That’s the “controversy.”

We’ve gotten so hyper-woke, so easily and overly offended, that we’re now treating fun, lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek, stylish, maybe-even-a-little-sexy ads like they’re some moral crisis. They’re not.

If you grew up in the ’80s and ’90s like I did, you knew the supermodels by name: Cindy, Linda, Stephanie, Paulina, Christy… and all the SI swimsuit models, the MTV music video vixens, the Guess girls. It was glorious. It wasn’t the end of the world. It was just… marketing. Beauty. Style. Fantasy. 

This isn’t body-shaming. It isn’t discriminatory. And it’s sure as hell not “Nazi-ism” (yes, I actually saw that comparison online; insane). It’s a young woman in jeans. And it’s not the fact that it’s a young woman  in jeans that’s the problem, it’s that she’s a “blonde haired, blue eyed” young woman that’s the problem. This version of beauty is now offensive…

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Here’s the thing: if this offends you, don’t buy American Eagle jeans. That’s your freedom. But a lot of people; men and women like beautiful women. I do. My boys do. My friends do. And a lot of women appreciate beauty in women, too.

If you don’t find Sydney Sweeney beautiful, or if that’s not your thing, that’s fine. You’re entitled to your opinion. There’s something, and someone for everyone.Remember when we used to say that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”?  Where’s that gone?  

But just because you don’t like a brand’s creative direction doesn’t make it wrong. It just makes it wrong for you. And that’s the beauty of America: we have choices. Capitalism. Freedom. Creative and otherwise.

Sydney Sweeney has great genes. She looks great in jeans. Bring back the supermodels. Put beauty back into the beauty business.

In health,

Greg
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Greg Scheinman
Founder, Midlife Male
52. Husband. Father. Entrepreneur. Coach.
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