Who knew selling denim could become such a cultural flashpoint.
Just as the hoopla over American Eagle’s “good jeans” campaign with Sydney Sweeney seemed to be dying down, Levi’s and Beyoncé entered the chat with the latest ad in their ongoing collaboration.
On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk to discuss the competing advertisements and what they say about culture today.
The Levi’s Ad
Beyoncé and Levi’s dropped “chapter 04” of their collab on Monday with a music video-style ad titled “The Denim Cowboy.” The Grammy-winner portrays a pool shark besting male patrons in a bar while donning a few “denim on denim” outfits – Levi’s, of course – in an apparent nod to a lyric in her song titled “Levii’s Jeans” that plays in the background.
The 90-second video features previous editions of the partnership that saw Beyoncé strip down to her skivvies in a laundromat and sport short-shorts in a diner as a set-up for the pool scene. The whole thing has been produced by the singer’s Parkwood Entertainment and circulated by her and the denim brand, which also posted photos of the signer’s bedazzled look on social media.
The slick shots show Beyoncé posing in a curve-hugging, rhinestone-embellished denim jacket, high-waisted jeans, and sky-high heels with shoulder-grazing platinum hair and a heavily contoured makeup look.
Shifting Ideals
While the latest Beyoncé x Levi’s campaign will no doubt be effusively praised by her fan base (which is already speculating the pop star’s next album is going to be in the rock genre because she began the ad on a horse and ended it on a motorcycle) and the media as her work always is, Megyn said there is something interesting about the distinctively different vibes between the Levi’s and American Eagle ads.
Earlier this week, she said one of the “refreshing” things about Sweeney’s ascension to Hollywood it-girl is how it represents a rejection of the “Kardashian-ization” of beauty standards. “Yes, she is well-endowed in the chest region, shall we say, but she is not fake,” Megyn explained. “She doesn’t have the enormous lips, and the enormous ass that has clearly been injected, and the teeny tiny two-inch waist that has also been surgically manipulated… And I think people appreciate that she is a beautiful girl who is just showing off her natural beauty.”
Megyn does not believe the Levi’s ad with Beyoncé is in any way a reaction to the American Eagle campaign with Sweeney given the ongoing collaboration. Even so, she said they represent two very different ideals. “My own reaction to it, especially on the heels of the Sweeney [ad], was it’s a fail because… [of] how fake it is,” she noted. “That is not Beyoncé’s hair… It is obviously a wig… The breasts are enormous. The shape is extra curvy. She’s got extreme makeup on… with the extra-long fingernails. It is not even trying to be natural beauty.”
Cultural Context
Reacting to the ad on X Tuesday night, Megyn ignited a frenzy when she suggested it does not work because of the artifice. “This is the opposite of the Sydney Sweeney ad. Quite clearly there is nothing natural about Beyoncé,” she posted. “Everything – from her image to her fame to her success to her look below – is bought and paid for. Screams artificial, fake, enhanced, trying too hard.”
That take caused a meltdown on the left, but Kirk agreed there is a larger cultural conversation to be had. “It is a very interesting cultural moment where, if you put [those two ads] up on screen, it’s like: Which way, western man,'” he asked. “[Is it] the fake victim, abortion screaming, left-wing, manufactured, bad music, fake hair, lots of work… Or Sydney Sweeney, who is just a girl from rural Washington who became an actress. I don’t even know if she is a good actress or not… I haven’t seen her work. But she is kind of an all-American girl that hasn’t necessarily gone through the sort of ‘designed by committee’ [makeover experience].”
Megyn agreed. “That’s what people are responding so well to,” she concluded. “[While] Beyoncé is, in my view, a completely artificial creation. It is right on brand for her.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kirk by tuning in to episode 1,123 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.