Have you ever seen an advertisement that you thought was controversial?
Practice saying these words. Focus on the /dʒ/ sound in “jeans”, “genes”, and “genetic” and the /juː/ sound in “eugenics”.
<aside>
Jeans genes genetic eugenics Europe theme theory social controversial campaign
</aside>
Click play to hear these words pronounced.
<aside>
controversial
eugenics
tagline
</aside>
<aside>
causing public disagreement
a catchphrase used in advertising
the theory of improving the human race through selective breeding
</aside>
Read the following text.
<aside> 👖
Clothing brand American Eagle launched a new advertising campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney. The campaign, which promoted their new line of jeans, used the tagline: “Sydney Sweeney has ‘good jeans.’” This was a play on words, sounding like “good genes,” which refers to a person’s genetic makeup. The commercials showed Sweeney in various American-themed settings, discussing genetics and how they determine things like hair and eye colour.
Many people on social media expressed their anger at the “good genes” pun. Critics argued that focusing on the “good genes” of a blonde, blue-eyed white woman like Sweeney promoted harmful beauty standards. Some even said it reminded them of eugenics, a dangerous theory about improving the human race by choosing who should have children. This theory has been used in the past to justify racism and discrimination. American Eagle defended its campaign. They said the campaign was about the jeans, not about promoting any particular type of person.
</aside>
Choose the correct preposition.