The cancellation culture in the US has failed. And here's why

Another scandal broke out in the United States this summer. Actress Sydney Sweeney starred in a jeans commercial and became the target of criticism on social media for promoting Nazi ideology. The campaign was based on a play on words with a similar sound: jeans and genes (translated from English as "jeans" and "genes"), and Sweeney is a white—skinned and blue-eyed 27-year-old actress. The scandal has raised many questions about race, Western beauty standards, the culture of abolition, and the taboo against political views in Hollywood. Read more about how they reacted to this case in the Izvestia article.

Why the scandal broke out

• In July, "Euphoria" star Sidney Sweeney starred in a provocative American Eagle brand advertising campaign. In one of the videos, Sweeney says that genes are passed down from parents to children, often determining traits such as hair and eye color, as well as character. Then comes the advertising slogan: "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans."

The actress received a wave of criticism on social media. She was even accused of propagandizing Nazi ideology. Commentators also drew attention to the fact that the advertisement was released at a time when the White House is pursuing an aggressive policy of deporting immigrants. Critics in this regard recalled the words of US President Donald Trump, who last year said that migrants have bad genes that cause them to commit murders.

• The White House came to the defense of the actress. Stephen Chung, director of Communications for the President of the United States, compared the public reaction to a cancellation culture that got out of control. And Vice President J.D. Vance noted that the Democrats, instead of learning a lesson from the situation, "apparently decided that they would call everyone who thinks Sweeney is beautiful Nazis."

• At the same time, it turned out that none of the influential Democratic lawmakers intervened in this situation. In addition, it turned out that account holders with far-right views initially attracted a lot of attention to the campaign.: They regarded the advertisement as an example of an anti-liberal approach opposed to the politics of diversity and equality. According to CNN estimates, the pro-Republican Fox News channel mentioned Sweeney's name at least 766 times over the course of one week. At the same time, the actively discussed scandal related to the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein, convicted of sexual crimes and the late Jeffrey Epstein, and President Trump received only 53 mentions in the same week.

• It also became known that the actress is a supporter of the Republican Party — in June last year, she registered as a Republican voter in Florida. Upon learning about this, US President Donald Trump said that he now likes Sweeney's ads — he called the campaign fantastic.

Why did the cancellation culture fail?

• Experts agree that Sweeney will emerge victorious from the scandal, as he did in 2022. Then the actress became the object of criticism after celebrating her mother's 60th birthday. Some of the party guests wore red baseball caps with the phrase Make sixty great again. Due to the similarity with Trump's slogan "Make America great again," some have decided that the actress is talking about her political views in this way. Sweeney herself asked commentators to stop making assumptions and stated that she did not pursue any political goals.

• Political scientists believe that the purpose of the pressure on the actress is to ensure that she stops supporting the Republicans. However, in Sweeney's case, the cancellation culture has failed — brands do not refuse to cooperate with the actress, including American Eagle itself. It is noteworthy that the company did not issue any apologies, which would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

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• This situation may indicate some kind of cultural shift in the minds of representatives of show business in general and Hollywood in particular. Until recently, it was not customary there to talk about their support for the Republicans. A similar public statement made a couple of years ago could have cost an aspiring actor his career. Now, other Hollywood figures may follow in Sweeney's footsteps, who were previously afraid to express their views if they differed from the liberal Democratic agenda.

It is also an indicator that the influence of the Democratic Party on culture and show business is rapidly declining. The first signals were noticeable during the election campaign: single star voices began to appear in support of Republican Donald Trump, and as the election date approached, there were more of them. After his return to the White House and the publication of a decree on the abolition of diversity policy (traditionally considered the hallmark of the Democratic Party) and the recognition of only two genders in the country, the financing of LGBT parades (the LGBT movement is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia) and their other events by business has massively decreased. The Disney studio has revised its inclusivity policy, and many major companies have disbanded their advisory departments. Against this background, the tacit refusal to "cancel" Sidney Sweeney because of his openly pro-republican position and filming an advertisement with a conservative slogan no longer seems surprising.

• This case suggests that cultural figures in the United States will now be able to more openly declare their political preferences without fear that it will cost them their careers.

How advertising becomes political

• Experts point out that Sweeney's videos have shown how quickly brand advertising campaigns can turn political — the line between pop culture, consumer marketing, and politics is now thinner than ever.

• American Eagle stated that "great jeans look good on everyone," but American experts point out that to reflect this idea, there had to be representatives of different races in the advertisement. However, it was Sweeney who was chosen — as if American Eagle wanted to rebrand, choosing successful white Americans as its new target audience. Although in the past, the company, on the contrary, created a hijab from denim (2017) and released a limited collection of denim clothing featuring the famous black tennis player Coco Gauff.

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• The brand launched an advertising campaign amid falling customer demand and rising costs due to Trump's tariffs. Total sales from February to April decreased by 5% compared to the previous year. After Trump's approval of the ad campaign, American Eagle shares rose by almost 25%.

• The Sweeney scandal had barely subsided when an advertisement for Dunkin' Donuts was released with Gavin Casalegno, an American actor of Italian descent, known for his role in the TV series "The Summer I Got Prettier." In a 30-second video posted on Dunkin' Donuts' social media pages, Casaleno says he didn't want to be the king of summer, but it turned out that his tan is the result of genetics.

During the preparation of the material, Izvestia interviewed American political scientist Malek Dudakov.