Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
What makes an ad controversial? Is it the intent—or the impact?
Do you think that an ad can pass through an entire marketing team, a company’s legal department (no ad is approved without legal), and a company’s leadership - get approval, and have such a glaring eugenics message be entirely missed?
Only if everyone in all of those departments are white - because racialized people, Trans people, and many disabled people would have spotted the landmines right away.
Do you know what the core belief of eugenics is? That there is such a thing as “good genes.” Eugenics doesn’t exist without that idea.But what if we reframe the commercial by hiring a non-white, non-disabled, or non-cis celebrity? What if they hired Dominique Thorn, or Laverne Cox, or Haben Girma?
Come to think of it, THAT would be a powerful anti-racist, anti-ableist ad campaign. Can you imagine a company greenlighting it, in today’s climate? And THAT’s yt supremacy.
What do you think? 👇 Drop your take below—I’m curious where you stand.
#AmericanEagle #SydneySweeny #Advertising #Marketing #Ethics
What makes an ad controversial? Is it the intent—or the impact?
Do you think that an ad can pass through an entire marketing team, a company’s legal department (no ad is approved without legal), and a company’s leadership - get approval, and have such a glaring eugenics message be entirely missed?
Only if everyone in all of those departments are white - because racialized people, Trans people, and many disabled people would have spotted the landmines right away.
Do you know what the core belief of eugenics is? That there is such a thing as “good genes.” Eugenics doesn’t exist without that idea.But what if we reframe the commercial by hiring a non-white, non-disabled, or non-cis celebrity? What if they hired Dominique Thorn, or Laverne Cox, or Haben Girma?
Come to think of it, THAT would be a powerful anti-racist, anti-ableist ad campaign. Can you imagine a company greenlighting it, in today’s climate? And THAT’s yt supremacy.
What do you think? 👇 Drop your take below—I’m curious where you stand.
#AmericanEagle #SydneySweeny #Advertising #Marketing #Ethics
