Like, that’s my whole takeaway from the Sidney Sweeney/American Eagle nonsense. Whether or not I feel like the message was intentional, or if the controversy is manufactured, whatever. What blows me away is that all of this was easily avoidable if you had a single WOC on your team.
It’s fucking crazy to me that in an industry that is guided by trends set by black women, it’s so incredibly obvious when they don’t have any women of color guiding their hand. Popular culture has no problem stealing the mannerisms and vernacular of black woman, but God forbid you have one on payroll to vet your shitty 40 million dollar ad campaign, right?
Anyways, that’s my scream into the void for today.
Comments
> in an industry that is guided by trends set by black women
What are you even talking about?
You know I keep seeing posts about the bath soap lady and I still have no idea what the hell is going on
It’s not even just having a black woman at the table – she needs to be at the table and feel at ease enough to actually express her opinion and that opinion be heard and respected by her peers.
I’ve been in many board rooms with “representation” that didn’t have any actual room for anything but the ideas and opinions of white men.
Guess I’m off to Google about this because I’m not chronically online enough and missed something.
Having been the black woman in the room when decisions like this get made…I don’t even think AE meant this maliciously. It’s literally just dumb. I think a bunch of white dudes and maybe a white woman or two go together and dreamed this up and thought it was genius and never even dreamed it would be offensive because they just didn’t think it through lol
May I ask- I saw the ad where she was standing there saying she’s got good jeans…. What is the issue here?
(I’m not trolling, genuinely asking- Italian American and not understanding the connection between saying someone has “good genes” and that meaning “eugenics”- I thought “I have good genes” is a possible response if someone complimented you on your appearance or skin or something of that nature)
I don’t think they were trying to avoid it. That’s the point of marketing.
Out of curiosity, what was the issue with the ad exactly?
I’m an ignorant white dude, so obviously I’m not in the loop or target audience, but it just looked like a dumb ad. Incredibly forgettable and bland.
If I was a cynic, I’d think the outrage was the point in order to get people talking, but I don’t even know what the outrage is supposed to be about.
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That’s confirmation bias unless you are actually following up to confirm no women of color were on the team.
This could have been avoided if they ran multiple spots with beautiful ladies of different ethnicities.
Are you a Black woman? I’m very confused on what this has to do with us.
… I feel like people are reading A LOT into a bloody ad.
Is Black synonymous with POC? I don’t think so and I think it’s harmful to other POC groups to assume so.
their entire creative and executive team is white, unsurprisingly. i went down the rabbit hole and learned that the AE CEO was the 3rd largest donor to Netanyahu’s most recent election as well as a massive donor to the Trump campaign.
i honestly have loved aerie clothing for a long time because the fabrics are soft and flattering. the BeReal campaign a few years back made me so happy – there were girls with mobility aids, physical differences, medical devices etc modeling their clothing. it was so beautiful!!
it just kind of goes to show where we have shifted to as a society and it’s a giant fucking bummer to say the least
Why does it need to be a black woman?
It’s putting way too much on black women to call out things that could be offensive to anyone. To be honest, most of the people I’ve seen offended by this haven’t even been black.
Expecting black women to be responsible for everything while at the same time degrading and ignoring them is exhausting and unfair to them. Non-black people and black men can also speak up. And if only black women have a problem with something in society where they are an extreme minority like the US, maybe it’s actually just accepted by the society we have. Let black women live. They’re not everyone’s guard dogs, they are human beings.
It’s a feature not a bug. I’m old enough that the ads remind me so much of the Brooke Shields Calvin Klein jeans campaign that I’m convinced controversy and backlash were the intended goals.
Honestly the whole thing is so clumsy and the pun so contrived, I can’t help but feel like it’s all rage bait designed to illicit backlash
I wish that it were easier to talk about this.
I was on the selection committee for a board for my college alumni association and we had a black candidate who was phenomenal. I mentioned how beneficial it would be for the organization to have more black voices (the vast majority of the board, myself included, were white). You know, because diversity helps you think about things from different angles and our constituents certainly included POC, so why wouldn’t we want that??
The conversation went sideways, with the few black members of the organization being called on to express their opinions (put on the spot). And then when they said, “well I’d never want to be chosen because of my race” (of course they wouldn’t) the conversation ended there.
They ended up picking the completely fine, but in no way superior white candidate. And we lost an opportunity to make the board better.
I swear, every one of the people at that table would say they weren’t racist. A bunch of them were champions of DEI initiatives. But it happens all the time anyway and is just so dumb.
i’m astonished that no body realizes all the dog whistles happening right now in american media—actually i can’t even say dog whistles cause they’re so blatantly obvious and intentional. it’s disgusting
I don’t even know what this is about. can someone fill me in?
Some of these comments don’t pass the vibe check. The ad campaign is simply clueless and it’s clear that diversity wasn’t the lens for the ad. I think the thought process of “blond and blue eyes is superior” is so ingrained for some that it wouldn’t occur to them to question it. I’m guessing that’s what happened here. That doesn’t let anyone off the hook AT ALL but it’s an explanation for an ad so tone deaf. AE could take a page out of Dove’s book and run multiple ads with the same tagline but diverse models/celebrities. Much too late now though.
as a woc i think this is all a huge reach. they just crossed jeans with “genes.” it’s not that deep.
edit: and it’s embarrassing how serious people are taking the commercial.
I’ve been feeling very alone in my corner of the internet because I feel like all of the Nazi/Aryan claims are a heavy reach. What if they used a different model with blue eyes but any hair color but blonde and had them say the same line? It all feels very “searching for a reason to complain” to me.
I think you mean well but it’s EXHAUSTING that you all expect WOC to do all the speaking out and challenging social norms. Why couldn’t a white woman have said something?? I shouldn’t have to be in the room for you to acknowledge white supremacy – which affects people of all colors including white people.
Enough with asking women of color to save you so you don’t have to risk losing the parts of heteronormative white supremacy that benefit you.
Real women supporting women vibes in this thread
It’s intentional. The company is owned by a mega trump supporter. It’s not a coincidence, it’s the design. Look at old Nazi propaganda. Same type of shit.
this won’t ever happen because of who the CEO and family supports, you should look it up, the dog whistle is intentional
This is actually easily verifiable and there are several black women in the senior and above marketing positions at AE
Linkdin search
As a black woman, I don’t understand the outrage.
Can anyone explain what the issue is?
I saw the commercial where she rubbed her butt and got in the old car.
I don’t see the issue.
The ad is very closely based on the original Brooke Shields ad, which was widely criticized at the time not for the genetics content but for.the inappropriate sexual content.
It’s a dumb play on words. Are people really outraged by this? I think some people’s hobbies include being outraged about dumb shit.
What an insane “controversy.” Good genes does not automatically mean eugenics. If they make this a continuing campaign with women of all color would it still be a problem?