Exclusive: Foot traffic down 9% at American Eagle following Sydney Sweeney ad controversy

Foot traffic fell 9% year over year at American Eagle stores for the week that began August 3, marking the second week of traffic declines since the retailer launched its controversial campaign featuring actor Sydney Sweeney, according to data from Pass_by provided exclusively to Retail Brew.

American Eagle launched its campaign, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” on July 23. For the first full week after the campaign, which began on July 27, its foot traffic declined 3.9% YoY. In both of the two full weeks preceding the campaign, its traffic increased over last year, up 5.9% on the week that began July 6 and 4.9% on the week that began July 13.

The latest week (from August 3 through August 9) saw foot-traffic declines among some of the retailer’s direct competitors for younger clothing shoppers, too, though not as steep as American Eagle’s 9% YoY drop. Abercrombie & Fitch experienced lower foot traffic (-3.3%), along with H&M (-4.9%), Gap (-2.8%), and Urban Outfitters (-2.7%), per Pass_by.

Correlation, as ever, is not causation, so there’s no telling if the Sweeney campaign has directly impacted American Eagle’s foot traffic.

Retail Brew asked American Eagle to comment on the foot-traffic data. We asked whether, according to its own data, traffic and sales have increased or decreased since the campaign launched. American Eagle did not respond.

As we reported previously, some have criticized the campaign for what they claim are eugenic undertones and for being oversexualized, while others, including The New York Post, dismissed the critics as a “crazed woke mob.” Vocal defenders of the campaign include President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Senator Ted Cruz.