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Some fads end slowly, taking up to a generation to wane. Others are like lightning, bursting on the scene unexpectedly, destroying all in its path.

This is what has happened in the Sydney Sweeney storm. An ad for American Eagle blue jeans and especially the reaction to it catapulted the 27-year-old actress to national fame and controversy.

Move over Taylor Swift!

In case you weren’t paying attention, the ad shows Sweeney reclining while zipping up a pair of jeans and flashing a little cleavage. What sparked the woke left’s attention and outrage was the ad copy which invoked a double meaning: “It’s not just good genes. Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.” Critics claim the ad promotes eugenics.

Critics also began likening the reference to genes, instead of jeans, to the pursuit of a master race by the Nazis.

The reaction was swift. Sales of American Eagle Jeans flew off the shelves. The company stock soared 25 percent on Monday. On hearing that Sweeney is a Republican, President Trump said, "If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic. The tide has seriously turned. Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be.”

Sweeney’s voting precinct is in Florida’s most southern and conservative Monroe County. Liberal outrage surged further when a video showed her firing a gun on a gun range.

What this signals is that promoters of the culture wars are losing. The recent resignation of Jaguar CEO Adrian Mardell also proves the point. Jaguar created an ad featuring people wrapped in shades of pink. No cars appeared in the ad. It was made to introduce an all-electric product line beginning next year. Jaguar buyers rebelled. So did some dealers who knew their customers didn’t want a single option. One person posted on social media “I don’t own a Jaguar, but if I did I would sell it.” Jaguar owners, like most of the rest of the country, want the freedom to choose the type of car they wish to buy. According to a Gallup poll in March, interest in owning an electric car has dropped from 51 percent to 40 percent. It is not likely to go higher for some time, if at all.

As for those American Eagle jeans, we’re not talking about the “No Excuses” jeans promoted by Donna Rice after her affair with Sen. Gary Hart (D-CO) became public in 1987, or the “You’ve Got the Power” ad featuring a Monica Lewinsky clothing line after her sexual encounters with President Bill Clinton. Those ads were exploiting what might be called negative celebrity. The Sweeney ads and the left’s reaction to them are combating the cultural zeitgeist.

Comedian Bill Maher said this about the Sweeney backlash on his HBO show: “In other uncomfortable racial news, sad news, we found out this week that Sydney Sweeney is a Nazi.

“No she’s not, but you’ve seen the ad … This is a very important ad that we’re seeing now, there she is dressed like Jay Leno in all blue denim. And she talks about the fact that she has blue eyes and then says she has great jeans, you know, because she’s wearing jeans! But according to the woke people this means she’s a white supremacist.

“I also (think) it’s pretty funny that all the online social justice girls are like ‘it’s racist, there is no such thing as good genes.’ Right, and then you go on Tinder and swipe left on every bald guy.”

I wonder if American Eagle carries my size?

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Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I've Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America" (HumanixBooks).

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