"Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans" is and always was about the jeans," reads the statement, which the company posted to Instagram. "Her jeans. Her story. We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone."

American Eagle Outfitters has a message to its critics, who took issue over its ad with 27-year-old actor Sydney Sweeney that sparked a debate over race and Western beauty standards.

The crux of the campaign is Sweeney’s assertion that her jeans are good, but the whole thing rests on a pun: She’s also talking about her genes. “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring,” she says in one video, “often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”