Is the American Eagle nonsense due to TDS?

Is the American Eagle nonsense due to TDS?

I don’t understand this American Eagle brouhaha. First I had never heard of American Eagle which is probably why they started their ad campaign which has gotten them billions of free advertising with their stock price surging 25 percent. I bet it made every business green with envy. The story even made the front page of the Wall Street Journal’s business section. Second I have never heard of Sydney Sweeney. From what I gather, the ad campaign is about blue jeans and Sweeney is provocative. Maybe to some but to us old folk its just another big busted blond selling stuff. 

Are some people upset that good looking women are used to sell stuff to other women? One really dumb comment was “Why is American Eagle using Sydney Sweeney to attract the male gaze when she’s wearing jeans for WOMEN?” Well then explain to me Victoria Secret you grouch. Surely they can’t be selling that racy lacy stuff to only trans people. By the way, Sweeney looks human – even if part of her may be enhanced – which is more than I can say for those Victoria Secret models which must be AI generated. In my 80 years, I have never seen a real live woman who looks even remotely like a Victoria Secret model. Have you? 

The Journal’s article says “American Eagle Confuses with Ads.” Huh? Confuses who? One person whined “It harkens to a dated sexuality that was common in ads of the past.” I guess the past was yesterday? Ok I get it. We have been going through the cancel culture period of wokeness in which sexuality was neutered. Boys were being made ashamed of being male. Target selling anti-male children’s clothing. Even Walmart has a trans section on its website. Yet I can see why some people may be offended. There are the men who wish their other halves (if they are women) looked a bit like Sweeney. And then there are the women who are just plain jealous. Sweeney is probably laughing all the way to the bank (probably wearing American Eagle jeans and a top open to her navel). But dated sexuality? Haven’t these people been near a college campus the past two years? Most of the coeds are in tights, short tennis type skirts or super short short running shorts. The guys are wearing baggy shorts. So the college women are flaunting their sexuality while the men are hiding theirs. I remember my other half commenting once “Don’t you think her shorts are a bit too short?” I demurred. Do you think any of the college crowd are offended by Sweeney? No. It’s the whining wimps on the left that wished they looked as good as Sweeney. 

I actually think that all the brushback is another symptom of TDS. Trump said that Sweeney was HOT and that the ad was the HOTTEST out there. “It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’ Go get ‘em Sydney!” I guess Trump has first hand knowledge of hot big busted blonds (BBB) doesn’t he? I wonder what Melania had to say about that? Also Trump noted that Sweeney was a registered republican. Well she certainly couldn’t be a democrat looking like that could she? Sweeney is certainly no Dylan Mulvaney – who is probably a democrat. 

Would you believe that “The ad triggered backlash from critics on social media who felt the ad comes close to promoting eugenics, implying Sweeney’s blonde-haired, blue-eyed genes are more desirable than other traits?” Yes you would and indeed the media went out there and find some pseudo-expert to opine that “American Eagle was aligning themselves with a white nationalist, MAGA-friendly identity.” I’m serious. Sounds like Jasmine Crockett (who by the way has “straight” hair) but was instead some professor of anthropology at Northwestern. Anthropology? Give me a break. Apparently, this “expert” found offensive the line “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans”. I wish they showed a picture of the anthropology professor. I also wish that American Eagle had been smart enough to run a set of companion ads featuring Beyonce. Now that woman has got some genes! On second thought, is that her real hair? Who cares?

When I was growing up, a lot of black people wanted to look like white people. The paragons of feminine beauty were Billy Holiday, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Vanessa Williams and other light skinned beauties with straight hair. Black women were straightening their hair and putting stuff on their skin to lighten them up. Meanwhile the men were getting their hair processed. Some even tried wearing Nehru suits but I don’t think many tried going sockless in Bass Weejuns.

 Many of the big entertainers like James Brown, Jackie Wilson and BB King also straightened their hair. So did the famous vocal groups both men and women. The Black is Beautiful movement changed all that and you could look like Cicely Tyson then or Lupita Nyong’o and Adut Akech now and be acknowledged as beautiful. Blacks started wearing Afros and getting their hair braided. I went for several years without a haircut being on a graduate student’s stipend and married with two small children. In order to keep the hair somewhat manageable sometimes the whole family would be in braids. And this was in the 1960’s! I wish we had a picture taken of us four. Maybe one surfaced and is why the University of Florida threatened to deny me promotion and tenure. But that is a story for another day. Still though, I bet if you googled “The most beautiful black women” that the vast majority of them will have “straight” hair. Blame our white genetics or the women’s hairdressers but Rihanna would look good even with her head shaved.

BTW, this would have been my Mother’s 107th birthday. Happy birthday Mom. i sure do miss you.