Controversial Sydney Sweeney ad backlash sends American Eagle foot traffic plummeting
Sydney Sweeney stars in American Eagle's controversial jeans ad campaign linked to 9% drop in store foot traffic in August 2025.
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Competitors also see smaller drops in store visits
Debate grows over Sydney Sweeney ad backlash
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
FAQs
Foot traffic at American Eagle stores fell 9% year over year in the week starting August 3, according to Pass_by data shared exclusively with Retail Brew. This drop marked the second week in a row of declining store visits since the brand launched its 'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' campaign on July 23.As per the report by Retail Brew, in the first full week after the campaign began — the week starting July 27 — store visits were already down 3.9% YoY, Pass_by reported. Before the campaign, American Eagle was seeing positive traffic growth. The week starting July 6 had visits up 5.9% YoY, and the week starting July 13 saw a 4.9% YoY increase, according to the same data.In the August 3–9 period, other youth-focused clothing retailers also saw lower traffic but not as steep as American Eagle's fall. Abercrombie & Fitch was down 3.3%, H&M down 4.9%, Gap down 2.8%, and Urban Outfitters down 2.7%, as per Pass_by data, reported by Retail Brew.Pass_by report stressed that correlation is not causation, so there's no proof the Sydney Sweeney ad is directly responsible for the traffic drop. Retail Brew asked American Eagle whether their own data showed store visits or sales changing since the campaign launch. The company did not respond. The ad has drawn criticism from some for alleged eugenic undertones and being oversexualized.Supporters such as The New York Post — have pushed back at critics, calling them a 'crazed woke mob.' High-profile political figures backing the campaign include President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Senator Ted Cruz, according to the report by Retail Brew.American Eagle's store visits fell after launching the controversial Sydney Sweeney ad campaign in late July.Some people criticize the ad for being oversexualized and having eugenic undertones, while others defend it.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
4 minutes ago
- Business Standard
US July budget deficit up 20% Y-o-Y despite record Trump tariff income
The US budget deficit in July climbed 20 per cent this fiscal year compared to the last despite the US taking in record income from President Donald Trump's tariffs, according to Treasury Department data released Tuesday. The US saw a 273 per cent increase - or $21 billion - in customs revenue in July over the same period last year, the data showed. A Treasury official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the data said overall increased spending is in part due to a mix of expenditures, including growing interest payments on the public debt and cost-of-living increases to Social Security payouts, among other costs. This comes as the federal government's gross national debt creeps up to the $37 trillion mark. Even as Trump talks about America becoming rich because of his import tax hikes, federal spending keeps outpacing the revenues collected by the government. That financial picture might change as companies exhaust their pre-tariff inventories, forcing them to import more goods and generate even more in tax revenues that could whittle away at the deficit without meaningfully reducing it as promised. If tariffs fail to deliver on Trump's pledge to improve the government's balance sheet, the American public could be faced with fewer job options, more inflationary pressures and higher interest rates on mortgages, auto loans and credit cards. The budget deficit is the annual gap between what the US government raises in taxes and what it spends, over time feeding into the overall national debt. While organisations like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget say that tariff income can be a stream of meaningful revenue - estimated to generate about $1.3 trillion over the course of President Trump's four-year term in office; some economists like Kent Smetters of the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model say tariffs are likely to result in only modest reductions in federal debt. In June, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff plan would cut deficits by $2.8 trillion over a 10-year period while shrinking the economy, raising the inflation rate and reducing the purchasing power of households overall. But revenue estimates are also difficult to predict as the president has changed his tariff rates repeatedly and the taxes declared as part of an economic emergency are currently under appeal in a US court. A Treasury official did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment on when the US could begin to see tariff revenue start to put a dent in the deficit. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last month on Fox Business Network's Mornings with Maria that the administration is laser-focused on bringing this deficit down. The Trump administration expects to make more trade deals with other nations, including China and other major economies. For instance, on Monday, Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days, which preserves the 30 per cent tariffs he had imposed as a condition for negotiations. The previous deadline was set to expire at 12.01 am on Tuesday. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same. Beijing, at the same time, also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
4 minutes ago
- Business Standard
US national debt reaches record $37 trillion, Treasury Department reports
The US government's gross national debt has surpassed $37 trillion, a record number that highlights the accelerating debt on America's balance sheet and increased cost pressures on taxpayers. The $37 trillion update is found in the latest Treasury Department report issued Tuesday which logs the nation's daily finances. The national debt eclipsed $37 trillion years sooner than pre-pandemic projections. The Congressional Budget Office's January 2020 projections had gross federal debt eclipsing $37 trillion after fiscal year 2030. But the debt grew faster than expected because of a multi-year Covid-19 pandemic starting in 2020 that shut down much of the US economy, where the federal government borrowed heavily under then-President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden to stabilise the national economy and support a recovery. And now, more government spending has been approved after Trump signed into law Republicans' tax cut and spending legislation earlier this year. The law set to add $4.1 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. Chair and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Michael Peterson said in a statement that government borrowing puts upward pressure on interest rates, adding costs for everyone and reducing private sector investment. Within the federal budget, the debt crowds out important priorities and creates a damaging cycle of more borrowing, more interest costs, and even more borrowing. Wendy Edelberg, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution said Congress has a major role in setting in motion spending and revenue policy and the result of the Republicans' tax law "means that we're going to borrow a lot over the course of 2026, we're going to borrow a lot over the course of 2027, and it's just going to keep going." The Government Accountability Office outlines some of the impacts of rising government debt on Americans - including higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lower wages from businesses having less money available to invest, and more expensive goods and services. Peterson points out how the trillion-dollar milestones are piling up at a rapid rate. The US hit $34 trillion in debt in January 2024, $35 trillion in July 2024 and $36 trillion in November 2024. We are now adding a trillion more to the national debt every 5 months," Peterson said. "That's more than twice as fast as the average rate over the last 25 years. The Joint Economic Committee estimates at the current average daily rate of growth an increase of another trillion dollars to the debt would be reached in approximately 173 days. Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said in a statement that hopefully this milestone is enough to wake up policymakers to the reality that we need to do something, and we need to do it quickly. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Economic Times
4 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Dollar slips as investors eye September Fed cut
The dollar weakened on Wednesday after a tame reading on U.S. inflation bolstered expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut next month, with President Donald Trump's attempts to extend his grip over U.S. institutions also undermining the currency. ADVERTISEMENT U.S. consumer prices increased marginally in July, data showed on Tuesday, in line with forecasts and as the pass-through from Trump's sweeping tariffs to goods prices has so far been limited. Investors eyeing imminent Fed cuts cheered the data and moved to price in a 98% chance the central bank would ease rates next month, which in turn dragged on the dollar. Against the yen, the dollar was last 0.05% lower at 147.76, while the euro was steady at $1.1676, having risen 0.5% in the previous session. The dollar index last stood at 98.08, after falling roughly 0.5% on Tuesday. "The July CPI report showed less evidence of tariff pass-through to consumer prices...(but) I think a September rate cut is less than certain, probably not as certain as current market pricing," said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. ADVERTISEMENT "As the last payroll shows, one report can be sufficient to move the policy debate to one side or another. So I think we still have to wait until the remaining data to print before making a strong case about a rate cut or an on hold decision." Unlock 500+ Stock Recos on App U.S. Treasury yields similarly fell on the heightened rate cut expectations, with the two-year yield last at 3.7371%, having swung in a range of nearly 10 basis points on Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT The benchmark 10-year yield was little changed at 4.2965%. [US/] Also eroding investor confidence in the dollar were fresh attempts by Trump to undermine Fed independence, after White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that the U.S. president was considering a lawsuit against Fed Chair Jerome Powell in relation to his management of renovations at the central bank's Washington headquarters. ADVERTISEMENT Trump has been at loggerheads with Powell and has repeatedly lambasted the Fed Chair for not easing rates sooner. The president also hit out at Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, saying the bank had been wrong to predict U.S. tariffs would hurt the economy and questioned whether Solomon should lead the Wall Street institution. ADVERTISEMENT Elsewhere, sterling gained 0.03% to $1.3504. Britain's jobs market weakened again though wage growth stayed strong, according to data on Tuesday, underscoring why the Bank of England is so cautious about cutting interest rates. "(The) UK jobs figures pointed to the labour market remaining in fragile shape," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone. "My base case still has the next 25bp cut pencilled in for November, though there is a long way to go, and a lot of data to come, before then." In other currencies, the Australian dollar dipped 0.05% to $0.6526, while the New Zealand dollar fell 0.03% to $0.5953. The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday cut interest rates as expected, and signalled further policy easing might be needed to meet its inflation and employment goals as the economy lost some momentum. (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)
