Another week, another viral ad, and another round of TikTok accusations that a brand campaign is flirting with eugenics. This time, it’s Dunkin’. Actor Gavin Casalegno, star of The Summer I Turned Pretty and professional golden retriever boyfriend, declares in the brand’s latest spot: “This tan? Genetics.”
And just like that, the internet is clutching its pearls over another alleged “racialized dog whistle,” with cries that the ad is upholding Eurocentric beauty standards and casually nodding to white superiority…all over a drink called the Golden Hour Refresher.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because we just went through this with Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign. There, the internet read nefarious intent into a pun about “jeans” vs. “genes,” and accused the brand of glorifying racial purity via a blue-eyed bombshell zipping up her denim. Now, Casalegno, a guy whose entire career is based on being tan, affable, and shirtless by a pool, says the word “genetics” and we’re suddenly in Nazi territory again? Watch below:
Let’s take a breath.
As a biracial man who’s lived with both overt and coded racism my entire life, I do not say this lightly: this is not the fight. I’ve been in rooms in major ad agencies where I was explicitly told not to cast interracial couples. That’s real. That’s institutional. That’s the kind of thing we need to be calling out. Not whether an influencer said “genetics” in a sun-soaked Refresher spot.
Here’s the thing: I’m “woke.” I believe in DEI. I champion representation in all media. But this kind of performative outrage does more harm than good. It dilutes the power of fundamental critique by setting its sights on harmless wordplay and bubblegum branding. The more we scream “dog whistle” at every ad featuring a white person talking about sunshine, the less credibility we have when there’s an actual wolf at the door.
Also, Dunkin’ wasn’t encoding a eugenics manifesto in an ad about fruity tea. They were marketing summer vibes. You don’t need a Ph.D. in semiotics to recognize this as cringey Gen Z copywriting meets brand campaign deadline, not propaganda. The line “This tan? Genetics” is not a threat to democracy. It’s just… not a very good line.
So, yes, let’s keep interrogating the media. But let’s pick smarter targets. Let’s call out real systemic bias—the casting calls, the campaign approvals, the boardroom decisions that actually marginalize. Not a 25-year-old actor saying he looks good in the sun.
Cancel culture isn’t the enemy. But this kind of “gotcha” culture is. And it’s exhausting. Let Sydney wear her jeans. Let Gavin enjoy his golden hour. And let’s save our fire for the campaigns that truly deserve it.
And my real problem with this Dunkin’ ad is that it’s missing Sabrina Carpenter, my inappropriate crush.
Colin Costello is the West Coast Editor of Reel 360 News. Contact him at colin@reel360.com or follow him on Twitter at @colinthewriter1
REELated:
Dr. Squatch invites us to take a shower with Sydney Sweeney
