It all started when American Eagle made a seemingly innocuous reel post on their Facebook back in July of this year.

The short 15-second clip features a full-body pan of Sydney Sweeney, former “Euphoria” star, lounging in a two-piece jeans outfit. She speaks softly in a voiceover explaining how “genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color.”

Cue dramatic camera pan to a pair of flirty blue eyes and perfectly coiled blonde hair, where she finishes by saying, “my genes are blue.” Large blocky text entered the screen, briefly spelling out the words “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” in all capital letters.

This video was intended as a homage to the vintage Calvin Klein advertisement, which featured a then underage Brooke Shields. The initial advertisement faced backlash in the 80s for oversexualizing a minor.

Soon this video also faced criticism and was hastily taken down by the clothing company. Hordes of people on the internet voiced their concerns about its thinly veiled message, one which could quite possibly be referring to eugenics promotion and the superiority of white genes.

However, some other voices on the matter have a different opinion. One comment under the Facebook advertisement calls it an “Amazing ad .. refreshing in this day and age.” Even the commander-in-chief himself had some words to say about the advertisement: “If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.”

In what many have called a fantastic marketing move, Gap released what appeared to be a counter advertisement for its own jeans starring the famous and ethnically-diverse girl group Katseye just a few weeks later.

The substantially longer minute-and-a-half video features the women completing a fully choreographed dance routine, complete with funky music and various denim outfits.

It is easy to tell which video the public prefers by comparing the view counts. The American Eagle advertisement, still available online today, holds a quarter of a million views compared to Gap’s record-breaking 25 million views. It appears as though the underdog has won the day.

Although the difference in the number of people behind each of these advertisements may point to something other than the polarizing topic of eugenics, they could also refer to wealth manipulating the media. Both brands could be considered middle-range for prices, but Gap has more than double the net worth that American Eagle has and brings in billions of dollars more in revenue each year.

With considerably more funds, one could wonder about who is really behind the controversy in the clothing advertisement scene.