In the wake of American Eagle’s latest campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney, writer Hope Bonarcher, herself a black model, offers her Christian lens on beauty standards, identity, and the deeper worth found in Christ alone.
“Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”, is the slogan for American Eagle Outfitters’ controversial new marketing campaign, featuring the buxom, blue eyed, blonde starlett. Those of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s (with similar adverts featuring Brooke Shields, Claudia Schiffer and Anna Nicole Smith), understand the only modern difference is American Eagle saying the quiet part out loud.
After years of encouragment to accept the likes of trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney and one time morbidly obese singer, Lizzo, as norms of cultural beauty, many are happy to embrace the invitation back to societal standards of beauty that match up with our eyesight. The concepts of lust and female objectification aside (we can all agree the world’s standard in this area goes against that of God’s holy Word), the main controversy of the campaign isn’t the spokesmodel’s desirability, but her ethnicity.
READ MORE: Overcoming racism through faith, in apartheid South Africa
Social media is in a rage over the adverts, which feature Sweeney in various states of undress espousing her appeal with a wordplay on “genes” and “jeans.” Online, irrate influencers are seriously self destructing…
“Did American Eagle just run an ad for eugenics?”
“Did American Eagle just run an ad for eugenics?”
“Praising Sidney Sweeney for her great genes, in the context of her white, blond-haired, blue-eyed appearance, it is one of the loudest and most obvious racialized dog whistles we’ve seen and heard in a while.”
READ MORE: Honouring diversity through fashion
“Should we be surprised that a company whose name is literally American Eagle is making facist propoganda like this? Probably not. But it’s still really shocking.”
Color me confused. I thought the world wanted women confident in their sex appeal. Does body positivity only exist for non-white folks? If the advert featured Beyonce, in black denim suggestively taunting, “my jeans are black,” would there be the same outrage?
This issue probably hits different for me as a black model. I work in an industry that pays people to look beautiful and sell things. In 2020, amidst controversy around George Floyd’s death, Black Lives Matter ruled and black squares ran rampant over social media. Brands everywhere raced to feature black models and promote black-owned businesses. Had I been working as a full-time model then, I could’ve made a killing, I imagine. However, I didn’t feel comfort represented in the halls of consumerism, I felt objectfied; as of black skin was a commodity. Black was in! Black was valuable! Black needed to be commercialised, swiftly, so mulitmillion dollar companies could capitalise on genetics. It’s nice to make money, to feel desired; but in actuality, for me it’s just that; a fleeting feeling with no substance.
From a Christian perspective, humans are not meant to be marketed or commoditized
From a Christian perspective, humans are not meant to be marketed or commoditised. There is no race-based hierarchy of worth in God’s Kingdom. Sydney Sweeney is beautiful. This takes nothing away from the beauty of black women or any other woman of a different ethnicity. We are all God’s workmanship in Christ Jesus. If we can celebrate black models and aestethics of beauty, we can celebrate those of our white sisters, just the same. The enemy loves to sow dischord, dividing into subgroups and factions, infighting, pointing fingers and feeling less than. The marketing world loves the controversy. All press is good press and this American Eagle campaign has reportedly boosted their stock by $400 million. While the world spins out, in a nonsensical race war meltdown, the brand is laughing all the way to the bank.
READ MORE: Faith and fashion
Meanwhile, Christian women can rejoice, knowing all women have great genes because God created all of us good. Substantive worth isn’t found in the here today, gone tomorrow idea of what advertising agencies deem beautiful, but in the Word of the One who never changes or casts a shifting shadow. “What good does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?” In the eyes of God, our souls are priceless and souls don’t have genetics.
No comments yet