Sydney Sweeney jeans ad controversy echoes Brooke Shields Calvin Klein campaign

Years before Sydney Sweeney had “great jeans,” Brooke Shields had her own controversial “genes” ad for Calvin Klein. 

Sweeney broke the internet late last month with an American Eagle Jeans ad that sparked backlash after she spoke about genes being “passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color.”

“My jeans are blue,” she added as the camera closed in on her eyes. The ad is part of American Eagle’s “Sydney Sweeney has Great Jeans” campaign and is strikingly similar to the one Shields did 45 years ago. 

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Years before Sydney Sweeney, left, had “great jeans,” Brooke Shields did her own controversial ad for Calvin Klein. (American Eagle; ALAMY)

Shields was just 15 years old when she starred in the Calvin Klein campaign, famously telling viewers that “nothing” comes between her and her jeans – a line that became controversial for its sexualization of a minor. 

In another commercial from the campaign, the “Suddenly Susan” star spoke to the camera and said, “The secret of life lies hidden in the genetic code. Genes are fundamental in determining the characteristics of an individual and passing these characteristics on to succeeding generations. Occasionally, certain conditions produce a structural change in the genes, which will bring about the process of evolution.”

She went on to say this could occur by “selective mating, in which a single gene type proves superior in transmitting its genes to future generations. Secondly by gene drift, in which certain genes may fade away while other genes persist. And finally, by natural selection, which filters out those genes better equipped than others to endure in the environment. This may result in the origin of an entirely new species, which brings us to Calvins and the survival of the fittest.” 

Shields said her lines while struggling to put on a pair of jeans without exposing herself and while contorting herself into some interesting positions. 

The now-60-year-old actress told Vogue three years ago that the campaign was meant to be a series of commercials that had an “intellectual spin” on doing a jeans ad and involved “wordplay or historical references or literary references.” 

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American Eagle released a statement on its social media last Friday, saying, “’Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.” (American Eagle)

She said the backlash to the ads was swift, with them even being banned in certain places, which she found “ridiculous.”

“What was shocking to me was to be berated by, ‘Oh, you knew this was happening. This is what you thought. You were thinking these thoughts.’ I was a kid and where I was, I was naive,” she said. 

In Shields’ case, the backlash was mainly over the sexual nature of her most famous ad, where she states, “You want to know what comes in between me and my Calvins? Nothing.”

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“I feel like the controversy backfired,” Shields told Vogue in 2021. “The campaign was extremely successful.”

The backlash to Sweeney’s campaign was equally swift, but this time it faced the brute force of social media, with some suggesting it had shades of “eugenics” and “White supremacy.” 

Brooke Shields with Calvin Klein in 1981. ( Tom Gates/Getty Images)

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However, others, including President Donald Trump, have come to the ad’s defense. 

“Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there. It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The tide has seriously turned — Being WOKE is for losers.”

He also told reporters, “If Sydney Sweeney is a Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.” 

“’Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”

— American Eagle

Jesse Watters mentioned the comparison on his show this week while dismissing the backlash. 

Brooke Shields in 2021 holding a pair of the original Calvin Klein jeans she once advertised in 1980. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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“This is a Madison Avenue campaign thing that they’ve done since the ‘80s, the play on words with the jeans,” he said. “They’ve done it with brown-eyed girls and Blacks and blondes.” 

Sydney Sweeney stepped out for the first time following the backlash for the Los Angeles screening of “Americana” on Aug. 3, 2025. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

American Eagle released a statement on its social media last Friday, saying, “’Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”

The company’s recent social media posts also include several models of color interspersed with Sweeney’s campaign. 

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Fox News Digital has reached out to American Eagle, Sweeney and Shields for comment.