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A new ad campaign from the Gap featuring KATSEYE, an international girl group with diverse members, has become an online phenomenon after many on social media have compared it to Sydney Sweeney<\/a>\u2019s controversial American Eagle campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The multipart Gap campaign features all six members of KATSEYE, who come from South Korea, Switzerland, the Philippines and the United States. One ad shows the pop stars<\/a> dancing to \u201cMilkshake\u201d by Kelis in Gap\u2019s low-rise denim, a homage to the style of the early 2000s. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe six-member group blends individuality, cultural diversity, and pop innovation\u2014styled head-to-toe in denim, including a reimagined Long & Lean jean designed to reflect their personal identities,\u201d Gap said in an announcement.<\/a> \u201cTheir multicultural point of view, combined with bold self-expression, has earned them a powerful voice within global youth culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The \u201cMilkshake\u201d ad has sparked a TikTok trend<\/a> involving fans, especially Gen Z-ers,<\/span> dancing to the video and matching KATSEYE\u2019S choreography. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The success of KATSEYE\u2019s campaign comes in the wake of the media firestorm around Sweeney\u2019s American Eagle ads, which some <\/span>critics online<\/span><\/a> have accused of having<\/span> racial undertones<\/span><\/a> and promoting eugenics. In response to the backlash, the <\/span>White House<\/span><\/a> and many <\/span>MAGA Republicans <\/span><\/a>cheered the clothing brand for her casting. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some social media users have revived the Sweeney controversy by comparing the two campaigns, noting that one features a multi-ethnic girl group dancing to a hit song from a Black singer, while the other starred the white, blonde and blue-eyed \u201cEuphoria\u201d actor discussing her \u201cgenes,\u201d in a play on the word \u201cjeans.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cDropping this right after American eagle mess is diabolical genius,\u201d one TikTok user commented under<\/span> Gap\u2019s ad. <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAmerican Eagle could never,\u201d another user wrote. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Fashion designer Megha Rao praised Gap on Instagram<\/a> for featuring KATSEYE member Lara Raj, an American singer with an Indian background.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cFor me, it was a powerful reminder that our kids get to grow up with the kind of representation 7 yr old me could only dream of,\u201d she wrote in a post that has also gone viral<\/a> on X. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gap\u2019s ads, however, were not as popular amongst conservatives online. <\/span>One post<\/span><\/a> by a right-wing user on X amassed more than 44,000 likes by calling the KATSEYE\u2019s ad \u201cwoke garbage,\u201d while other critics piled on.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n 20 Years Of<\/span>Free<\/span>Journalism<\/span><\/p>\n Your Support Fuels Our Mission<\/p>\n Your Support Fuels Our Mission<\/p>\n