Staff Reports
In an era where identity politics seems to color every conversation, it’s no surprise that a simple jeans advertisement could spark a whirlwind of outrage. The American Eagle advertisement featuring Sydney Sweeney, an actress who happens to be white, is at the center of the latest cultural drama. Some folks are vocalizing their discomfort, arguing that the ad fails to reflect their personal experiences as people of color. It’s amusing, yet troubling, how something as mundane as a denim commercial can be morphed into a full-blown critique of supposedly oppressive beauty standards.
Let’s face it, advertising has always idealized certain looks, whether it’s the glamorous Hollywood starlets of the past or the diverse faces that dominate today’s ads. The irony here is palpable. For years, ads have bent over backward to include a wide array of ethnicities, bending societal expectations of beauty left and right. Yet the moment a white person shows up, suddenly it’s back to square one. This uproar might seem well-intentioned on the surface, but it tells a different story about inclusivity. Being inclusive now means excluding a certain group altogether.
The argument that seeing a white actress in an ad could somehow harm a young girl’s self-worth is a stretch. People have survived and thrived in societies where they weren’t always represented in the media, and they continue to do so. Suggesting that people can’t see the beauty in themselves because of an ad is an underestimation of their resilience and self-awareness. If this pattern continues, advertising will be less about showcasing products and more about tiptoeing around the sensitivities of an overly critiqued society.
Calling out such advertisements for promoting “white Eurocentric beauty standards” dismisses the progress that has been made towards diversity in media. It’s almost as if some critics are living in a parallel universe where the last decade of representation never happened. Perhaps it is time to accept that in a genuinely diverse world, people of all races—including white people—will naturally appear in advertisements. The constant villainization of one group over another only strengthens division instead of bridging gaps.
The contention surrounding this ad isn’t really about representation; it’s about control over the narrative. To move forward, there should be an understanding that beauty doesn’t follow a single set of standards. It is subjective and transcends race. Encouraging this view, rather than promoting exclusion, would foster mutual respect and understanding. In the end, people need to ask: Is the goal to have diversity everywhere, or just to create another kind of exclusivity? Maybe it’s time to stop peering through the narrow lens of race and start seeing each person as an individual who contributes to the vibrant tapestry of society.
