How a Calvin Klein Jeans Campaign Ignited a Liberal-Driven Culture War

Calvin Klein saw the wild success of American Eagle’s “good jeans” advertising campaign with Hollywood bombshell Sydney Sweeney and said, “I raise you Tate McRae.” The legendary designer released a marketing video featuring the Canadian pop star clad in a sports bra and a pair of their signature denim, dancing to a jazzy jingle. For all the ridiculous backlash that Ms. Sweeney’s ad engendered, Calvin Klein must have seen the results in the form of a sales boost. Though the androgyny army may try to fight it, sex still sells. Tate McRae and Sydney Sweeney’s stardom remind wokesters that their campaign to beat nature out of the culture utterly failed. The artists flaunt voluptuous assets, silky hair, seductive rasps, pouty lips, and glowing skin — all the things that we’re not supposed to find attractive anymore, yet obviously still do. During “woke 1,” to borrow a recent phrase from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, leftists thought they had reprogrammed male preferences to reject human nature. Yet, we just got another classic household fashion brand dishing out essentially a newer, blonder version of the 1992 Cindy Crawford Pepsi ad and a homage to Calvin Klein’s celebrated ’90s publicity campaigns. Increasing numbers of fashion companies, from J.Crew to American Eagle, are strategically leaning into nostalgia to capitalize on young people’s yearning for a romantic, analog era. Ms. McRae’s ad is set to “Groove Is in the Heart,” the seminal 1990 track by Deee-Lite.Tate McRae in the ‘Feel the Fit’ billboard campaign. Via Calvin Klein/ FacebookMany commentators online immediately clocked, and resented, the Sydney Sweeney parallelism. Did Calvin Klein not hear the mob the first time, when they decried the obvious eugenics propaganda in the Sweeney ad? Where are all the people of color in jeans in the Klein ad? Why didn’t they put in Dylan Mulvaney? They hate the Tate McRae video because it’s not transgressive. There’s nothing that assaults the senses or pushes an ulterior motive like in car company Jaguar’s botched gender-ambiguous campaign. There’s no armpit hair, obesity, or other undesirable features that for a long time the Left insisted we see as beautiful. Instead we’re back to basics with good old-fashioned sex appeal and heteronormative beauty standards. That grinds the Left’s gears, as does their suspicion that Ms. McRae is a sympathizer of “MAGA.” She used to date U.S. hockey Olympian Jack Hughes, whose patriotic display and partying with Kash Patel following his winning goal against Canada last February, sparked rumors that he was friendly to the Trump administration. Ms. McRae’s Sydney Sweeney-esque ad further fueled the “MAGA allegations.” The bias is morphing into questions of whether she’s even talented at all. “Tate McRae moves exactly like a car dealership inflatable it’s not cute or hot I’m sorry it’s silly,” one X account wrote. “I always feel like I’m being gaslit when people say she’s a good dancer,” another said in response to the Klein ad.A commentary video that amassed half a million views on TikTok noted that unlike popular Swedish singer Zara Larsson, who is very involved in LGBT and climate activism, Ms. McRae is strangely reticent about these matters. “Tate McRae just comes off a bit cold and maybe not as open,” she said. “Added to that, you’ve got the whole situation where she was asked about being MAGA or MAGA accusations and she essentially said, ‘I think it’s pretty obvious the kind of person I am and the things that I stand for.’ And it’s like, if it was obvious, people wouldn’t be asking you. And it’s not that hard just to denounce being MAGA.’”American Eagle’s advertising campaign titled ‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.’ Via American EagleSuch a non-answer is the most prudent thing to say when pressed by the morality police. Not unlike Dolly Parton’s diplomatic deflection over the decades when asked about politics, Tate McRae — a Grammy Award-nominated artist at the age of 23 — doubled down that she doesn’t have to explain herself to her audience. Her massive Miss Possessive Tour generated a staggering $110.8 million– she has nothing to prove. Her personal beliefs are irrelevant to what she does on stage. So far she seems to want to keep it that way.There’s also the online criticism that Ms. McRae’s dance was slopified — elementary-level steps designed for TikTok duplication by the masses. The naysayers are wrong. Was the Calvin Klein routine rather interpretative or not as structured as other styles of dancing? Sure. But Tate McRae is undeniably a prodigy, training as a competitive dancer for a decade before she ever released a song. At 13 years old, she landed third place on the Fox reality competition show, “So You Think You Can Dance.” Even more impressive, Ms. McRae allegedly only had 20 minutes to learn the choreography for the Calvin Klein ad, which you’d never know judging from the polished final product.The fluid movements that Ms. McRae performs in the “Feel the Fit” ad are the point. There’s also no doubt in my mind that this 30 second clip represents merely a tiny fraction of her chops. The online peanut gallery desperately wants to indict her as a co-conspirator of MAGA, but she seems unbothered by the frenzy. Her generational talent speaks for itself. She’s in it for love of the game. Just because one is not satisfied with her silence doesn’t mean she can’t dance. Tate McRae was demonstrating that the jeans are so comfortable and flexible that she can strut without restraint. I’d call that good advertising.

How a Calvin Klein Jeans Campaign Ignited a Liberal-Driven Culture War

How a Calvin Klein Jeans Campaign Ignited a Liberal-Driven Culture War

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