A new American Eagle campaign featuring actor Sydney Sweeney is going viral, but not necessarily in the way the brand had hoped.
As evident in the wordplay of its tagline, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” the campaign plays on the idea that both her American Eagle denim and her genetics are exemplary.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,” Sweeney purrs in one spot, the camera lingering on the blond and blue-eyed actor. “My jeans are blue.”
For some, who took to social media to object to the campaign, the message seemed to echo the dark legacy of eugenics and “Nazi propaganda.”
A TikTok from rapper and singer Doja Cat mocking the campaign had more than 20.2 million views at the time of publication.
“What it communicates to people is that there is a prototypical standard for good genes: white, blond hair, blue eyes,” Dr. Marcus Collins, author of For the Culture and marketing professor at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business, said in a video he posted to LinkedIn. “Considering the political and social, cultural backdrop that we’re in right now, that could seem like some pretty bad dog whistling.”
While Collins stressed he had no idea of American Eagle’s intent, “it certainly makes sense that people will see it as such.”
The backlash drew coverage from media outlets including USA Today, the Washington Post, and NPR. Some coverage defended the campaign, with the New York Post characterizing critics as a “crazed woke mob.” (“Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women,” Senator Ted Cruz wrote on X when he shared a New York Post video about the controversy on the platform. “I’m sure that will poll well.”)
Retail Brew asked American Eagle to respond to criticism of the campaign, and whether it planned to respond to critics on social media and elsewhere. American Eagle did not respond.
“Damage control”: After 14 consecutive Instagram posts over three days featuring Sweeney, American Eagle posted an image of a woman of color wearing denim that said, “AE has great jeans👖✨.”
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Many of the top comments to the post were dubious.
“Just like clockwork. Damage control,” responded @acolortheory. Added @cinddyy.liz, “Quick let’s add a poc so we don’t get hate.”
In a post on LinkedIn as the campaign was launching, American Eagle’s CMO Craig Brommers wrote, “A massive thank you and CONGRATULATIONS to our internal teams and external partners - and SYDNEY herself - for this defining moment 🙏🙏🙏.” But a few days later, as critical comments far outnumbered positive ones, comments to the post were turned off.
Similarly, Ashley Schapiro, VP of media, performance and engagement at American Eagle, turned off comments on her LinkedIn post about the campaign (“The ⭐️ star power of Sydney and the double meaning behind the campaign has a culture shaping power beyond anything I could have ever imagined being a part of,” she wrote) following critical comments.
Jean therapy: Lola Bakare, author of the 2024 book Responsible Marketing: How to Create an Authentic and Inclusive Marketing Strategy, told Retail Brew that she thought the new campaign by American Eagle is “pretty overtly referencing” eugenics and called it “egregious.”
Bakare was disappointed that American Eagle had not directly (at least not before this article was published) addressed the controversy—aside from removing some of its ads from its social campaign, per Ad Age.
“They still have time to turn it around, but I am losing faith that they will,” Bakare said.
Bakare said American Eagle should at least address the criticism, even if it doesn’t pull the campaign.
“‘We really appreciate that our loyal fans are letting us know that there’s some issues that many see with our recent creative,” would be a good start of a message from the company to critics, Bakare said. “‘We hear you, we’re listening, and we’re working really quickly and getting together to see how we can make sure you know everything that we put out continues to do what we always care about most, which is respecting our fans.’”