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July 31, 2025
Does American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney Campaign Deserve the Backlash?
A new denim campaign from American Eagle starring the actress Sydney Sweeney blew up on social media with many outraged at its sexualization and racial undertones although a few are calling the negative reaction a “woke” exaggeration.
The campaign sees Sweeney, who rose to fame for her starring roles in HBO’s “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus,” modeling a number of denim outfits with the tagline, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
The most criticized ad shows the actor reclining on a couch as she squirms while fastening her pants and murmuring, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.” The camera pans both across her blue denim jeans and her blue eyes as a male narrator concludes, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
The execution reminded some of Calvin Klein’s controversial “Nothing gets between me and my Calvins” campaign from the early eighties that featured Brooke Shields although Shields was only 15 at the time and Brooke Shields is 27. Nonetheless, similar to past backlash aimed at Victoria’s Secret, the overall focus on the male gaze across the campaign was seen by many on social media as regressive and degrading to women.
“How far back do you plan on going? Do you still wanna vote?” one commenter asked while another chided: “You accept these jobs that objectify your body. Fight the patriarchy, don’t join it.”
The angrier complaints on social media were that the campaign promoted eugenics with executions playing on a pun between “great genes” and “great jeans.” Some have outright called the ads “Nazi propaganda” and an example of “White supremacy.”
CK Smith, weekend reporter for Salon, wrote that “great genes” is a “phrase historically used to celebrate whiteness, thinness and attractiveness. This makes this campaign seem to be a tone-deaf marketing move. And it’s not like they were being subtle about it. One campaign advertisement literally has Sweeney ‘painting’ over the words ‘great genes’ to become ‘great jeans.’”
“Maybe I’m to woke. But getting a blue-eyed, blonde, white woman and focusing your campaign around her having perfect genetics feels weird,” one wrote on X.
American Eagle hasn’t responded to the backlash but noted that the ads were meant to show some humor. Sweeney has been known to lampoon her status as a sex symbol, including in roles on a recent appearance on Saturday Night Live and recently collaborating on limited edition collection of soap infused with her bath water.
American Eagle said, “Sweeney’s girl next door charm and main character energy – paired with her ability to not take herself too seriously – is the hallmark of this bold, playful campaign.”
Proceeds from “The Sydney Jean,” a limited-edition style, will also be supporting domestic violence awareness, which Sweeney is passionate about.
The discourse drew a retaliatory backlash from others online who say the criticisms are an exaggeration. One respondent wrote on X, “The claim that Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad is pro-eugenics because of a ‘good genes/jeans’ pun is genuinely unhinged. It’s a denim campaign, not a manifesto. Not every blonde with blue eyes is a Nazi. Some of you need a history book — and a nap.”
Conservatives charged the attacks on Sweeney are rooted in jealously and anger that companies are no longer embracing overly “woke” and inclusive advertisement. Columnist Ingrid Jacques wrote for USA Today, “It’s a ridiculous overreaction to an advertisement featuring a successful, attractive celebrity.”
Discussion Questions
Is American Eagle’s “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” campaign fair or foul? What lessons may the polarized social media reaction offer to retailers and brands in managing the controversy over “woke” messaging and advertising?
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Tom Ryan
Managing Editor, RetailWire
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Dunkin’ is already in hot water for news jacking the American Eagle ad. Not the smartest move, proving once again that not all PR is good PR.
American Eagle created a campaign so tone-deaf to contemporary discourse that it handed ammunition to critics at both ends of the spectrum. While the word play may have sounded brilliant at the creative agency, explicitly connecting physical attributes with desirability in today’s media environment activates neural pathways that convey exclusionary and socially hierarchical messages. Given that this company owns Aerie, with its authentic inclusivity, it confuses the brand’s strategic positioning. American Eagle ought to know better.
In an earlier decade, this campaign may have been celebrated or ignored; given American Eagle’s sophisticated marketing team, this campaign is less likely to demonstrate strategic blindness and more calculated controversy-courting: the buzz outweighs the backlash. Crafting messaging that celebrates individual style rather than genetic lottery outcomes. The campaign could have kept Sydney Sweeney and maintained the humor, but focused on how she styles the jeans rather than her inherited traits. After all, does American Eagle want to stand for beauty standards that are aspirational or accessible?
Something tells me people aren’t going to concentrate on the narration.
The reaction to this ad proves two things marketers must remember:
But if you are after clicks, views and comments at any cost, have at it.
Contrived controversy can still deliver an ROI.
I think the overreaction is …an overreaction. And nuts
The ad was far too specific to be considered ambiguous or evocative. Just straight up dumb.
Equating a denim advertisement with Nazism – one of history’s most horrific ideologies – is both intellectually dishonest and logically indefensible. There may well be some reasonable criticisms of the marketing, but this kind of performative outrage – usually from people who find offense in anything and everything – is just tiresome. Context is also needed: this is one campaign among many by American Eagle, including partnerships with stars like Coco Gauff.
This campaign flirts with rage-baiting in an algorithm-driven attention economy.
Yes, to get attention. IT WORKED!!!!!
I am starting to wonder who is really genuinely upset about this campaign. Maybe I’m not as sensitive as I should be, and I am certainly not the target demographic. However, my initial impression was one of nostalgia, harking back to memorable campaigns of years past, assuming AE was trying to capture some of the magic and feelings of the past while sending a message about their present. My second impression was that it looks like much of the current TikTok/Instagram imagery and content from social influencers, who don’t seem to get a lot of broad-based backlash. I’m willing to learn different…from actual target AE consumers and not from the ever-present peanut gallery looking to criticize any ideas that aren’t their own. And PT Barnum would love all the publicity!
People will make what they want out of an ad, reading between the lines for whatever they hope to see or feel as a conclusion. Provocative? Yes, and look at the results in American Eagle’s jeans sales and company stock. Was it smart to bring up the word “genes” in an ad to sell jeans? Probably not a great idea to also mention hair and eye color. But the academic expert all over the media who skipped from steps A to D by stoking an uprising in claiming it promotes a Nazi ideal went way too far.
Some brands today focus on grabbing attention through campaigns designed to create buzz. But in trying too hard to be noticed, the real brand message often gets lost. These ads might trend briefly, but they rarely build a lasting connection or loyalty. When marketing becomes more about short-term reactions than long-term meaning, it starts to feel disconnected.
Now, think about the ads we grew up with. They were simple, emotional, and relatable. Even today, they bring back a sense of nostalgia because they spoke to everyday experiences. That kind of connection comes from understanding people, not just trying to be seen.
Well, well, well. Turns out the “controversy” was wholly fabricated:
“Criticism of the ad campaign had come almost entirely from a smattering of accounts with relatively few followers, according to an analysis of social media data by The New York Times. Conversation about the ad did not escalate online or in traditional media until days later, after right-leaning influencers, broadcasters and politicians began criticizing what they described as a wave of progressive outrage.”