‘My genes are blue’: The affective politics of gender, Whiteness and American patriotism in denim jeans

In July 2025, the clothing brand American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) unveiled their latest denim jeans campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney. The campaign has received backlash for its not-so-subtle pun signalling Sweeney’s blond-haired and blue-eyed Whiteness as ‘good jeans’. The online criticism, however, was met with conservative support as several White House officials celebrated and defended the campaign. This article argues that the campaign’s combination of denim, Whiteness and all-American iconicity in juxtaposition to Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter aesthetic and her own Levi Strauss & Co. jeans campaign explicates what kind of woman dominant US culture deems can embody American patriotism within the current sociopolitical moment. By contextualizing these campaigns in the history of denim blue jeans, this article explores how jeans represent more than just a consumer good, but act as a symbol and articulator of cultural ideology and national belonging. In so doing, Beyoncé’s blue jean cowboy aesthetic and Levi Strauss & Co. campaign can be understood as a disruption to the ‘right’ kind of female performance of American patriotism. The conservative response to both advertisements illustrates the affective and electoral politics of denim blue jeans, underscoring contemporary stakes of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ embodiments of race, gender and sexuality.