Doja Cat came through with the perfect clapback on a new American Eagle jeans campaign that’s got folks talking for all the wrong reasons. Sydney Sweeney, best known for “Euphoria” and that rom-com everyone’s buzzing about, was front and center for the ads. But the tagline? “She has great jeans.” It’s a pun on “genes,” but some people weren’t feeling the joke.

Why? Because when you throw around lines about “great genes” alongside mentions of hair and eye color, it brings up eugenics—the racist idea that people can be “improved” through selective breeding. That history isn’t something to joke about or ignore.

Doja took that moment and flipped it on TikTok. Using a playful southern drawl, she repeated parts of the ad but added her twist on the caption by saying, “My jeans are blee,” mocking the awkward pun. The video has already racked up over 18 million views. One X user said, “So a company named American eagle doing an ad campaign with a blonde hair blue eye woman saying she “has good genes” isn’t weird to anyone else?”

People are calling out the campaign for ignoring how heavy those words are. The brand didn’t think it through, plain and simple. A bad pun alone doesn’t explain the problem. Without diverse voices and cultural knowledge, brands produce tone-deaf campaigns that cause real harm. American Eagle and Sweeney haven’t commented on the backlash yet. The silence leaves space for conversations about representation and responsibility in advertising.

Different voices catch what one perspective can’t see. When the team actually looks like the people they’re talking to, the message lands right. Without real inclusion, brands keep dropping campaigns that push people away and kill trust. The Grammy award-winning rapper’s video showed why careful messaging matters in today’s world. Her take brought humor and awareness to a situation that could have easily been dismissed. It’s a reminder that tone and history can’t be separated when culture is involved.