'The Summer I turned Pretty' actor faces backlash for racial remarks

The Summer I turned Pretty actor Gavin Casalegno is under fire after he did a new commercial for Dunkin Donuts.

The actor is being criticised because he credits his tanned skin to his "genetics" in the new advertisement.

In the advertisement, Casalegno lounges poolside with a drink in hand and says, “Look, I didn’t ask to be the king of summer. It just kind of happened.”

He adds, “This tan? Genetics! I just got my color analysis back and guess what? Golden summer! Literally.”

"I can't help it. Every time I drink a Dunkin Golden Hour Refresher, it's like the sun just finds me. So if sipping these refreshers makes me the king of summer, guilty as charged."

This drew a strong backlash as several users vowed to boycott Dunkin, with one stating, “I’ll never have Dunkin’ Donuts again,” with another adding, “I guess Dunkin just joined the boycott list with Starbucks.”

The ad quickly drew comparisons to Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle denim campaign, which also featured a controversial tagline, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans," with the word 'genes' crossed out and replaced with 'jeans.'

Another video includes Sweeney saying, "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,' as the camera pans to her blue eyes, then she adds, 'My jeans are blue.'"