(NewsNation) — American Eagle has defended a controversial ad featuring Sydney Sweeney that led to backlash and allegations of promoting eugenics.

The clothing brand responded on Instagram, posting a photo that said it was always about the jeans.

“We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,” the brand wrote.

The ad, in which the blond-haired, blue-eyed Sweeney crosses out the word “jeans” and replaces it with “genes,” spurred a backlash.

Critics of the ad suggested it was promoting eugenics, a practice that attempts to guide reproduction to encourage traits seen as desirable in the population.

Others compared it to 1930s Germany, where Nazis promoted an Aryan ideal of beauty featuring blond hair and blue eyes as the most desirable traits.

The ad has also been likened to Calvin Klein’s 1980 ad featuring Brooke Shields, which people said sexualized the then-teenaged actress.

Defenders of the ad pushed back against the critiques, including Vice President JD Vance, who accused Democrats of being “hostile to basic American life.”