Dunkin’ under fire for ‘genetics’ ad with ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ star

The “Summer I Turned Pretty” star Gavin Casalegno’s Dunkin’ ad is coming under scrutiny and sparking yet another debate over promoting certain “genetics.”

In the new ad for the chain, Casalegno sits with his legs in a pool before standing up and telling the camera his tan is natural.

“Look, I didn’t ask to be the king of summer. It just happened,” he says. “This tan? Genetics. I just got my color analysis back. Guess what? Golden summer, literally.”

Casalegno, who has his white shirt unbuttoned throughout the commercial to show off his bronze skin, then sits in a lounge chair.

“I can’t help it. Every time I drink a Dunkin’ Golden Hour Refresher, it’s like the sun just finds me,” he says. “So if sipping these refreshers makes me the king of summer? Guilty as charged.”

Critics were displeased with the ad, accusing Dunkin’ of promoting white features as superior.

“Why are ads so obsessed with genetics all of a sudden,” one user commented.

“Wtf is wrong with you dunkin? 90% of your stores are owned and operated by Indian and other Brown people. But you make a commercial about white genetics? Explain the correlation between genes and coffee,” another commenter claimed.

” … It’s giving white is right, yeah no,” another weighed in.

Some compared the ad to Sydney Sweeney’s controversial American Eagle jeans campaign, in which she also talks about her “genes” as a play on the word “jeans.”

“Are AE and DD using the same agency or something?” one user wondered.

Sweeney’s American Eagle ad campaign has been widely criticized for allegedly promoting “Nazi propaganda” by being a “racialized dog whistle” praising blond hair and blue eyes.

“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue,” the “Euphoria” star says in the ad.

One TikTokker argued, “When those traits are consistently uplifted as genetic excellence, we know where this leads.

“This just echoes pseudoscientific language of racial superiority,” the user continued. “All throughout history, those traits have been weaponized to uphold a racial hierarchy.”

Doja Cat later mocked the ad in a TikTok video, reciting Sweeney’s now-infamous genes monologue with an exaggerated backwoods Southern accent while sneering.

“U know its bad when even doja makes fun of it,” one user commented with a crying emoji.