Trump weighs in on American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad
In a Newsmax interview Friday, Aug. 1 with host Rob Finnerty, Trump was asked about the "Euphoria" actress starring in the clothing retailer's fall 2025 denim ad campaign that some critics saw as a veiled attempt to endorse eugenics. Eugenics is a highly controversial (and discredited) set of beliefs that the human population can improve or advance itself through selective breeding.
"Sydney Sweeney, an actress was in an ad for blue jeans. The ad is doing very well, it's very popular. The jeans have sold out. Does America need to see more ads like that and maybe fewer ads with people like Dylan Mulvaney on the cover?" Finnerty asked, referring to the controversial 2023 Bud Light campaign starring the transgender TikTok star which elicited criticism from certain groups.
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Trump said that "advertising's a very funny thing," telling Finnerty that "I've done ads where I thought they were lousy, and they turned out to be iconic. And then I've done some that I thought were beauties that were going to be fantastic and they weren't so good, so to each his own."
Before addressing his thoughts on advertising, Trump told the conservative cable host earlier in the interview that "I think the Dylan Mulvaney ad was perhaps the most unsuccessful ad in history. It knocked $35 billion off the value of a certain company if you know what I'm talking about."
Trump continued: "(The Mulvaney ad) was one of the great disasters of all time. I would say that's probably the most unsuccessful ad, worst ad ever."
It is unclear what exact $35 billion valuation the president is talking about, but sales for Bud Light – owned by Anheuser-Busch – tanked after the backlash began.
American Eagle breaks silence on Sydney Sweeney jeans ad controversy
Why is the 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans' ad sparking backlash?
The Sweeney ad has been the subject of both online praise and anger for over a week. On July 23, the brand launched the new campaign starring Sweeney, which American Eagle originally described as "a return to essential denim dressing," with Sweeney sporting 1970s-style flare jeans paired with a denim jacket.
In one of several videos for the campaign, Sweeney, clad in a denim-on-denim fit, dabbles in some word-play, telling cameras: "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color." "My jeans are blue," Sweeney said in the video.
Each promotional video ends with the tagline, "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans." The Trump comments aired the same day that American Eagle broke its silence on the backlash and doubled down in an Instagram post following days of discourse about the Sweeney ad blitz.
"'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way," the statement read. "Great jeans look good on everyone."
Contributing: Anna Kaufman, Nicole Fallert
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