Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans But Not Everything Is So Great About That Ad

NDTV

3 days ago

The date was July 23, 2025. American Eagle, the flagship retail brand of the Rs 16,700-crore company American Eagle Outfitters, decided it was time to make the brand great again. So, they did what any fashion brand with a chunky budget might do: they launched a flashy new ad campaign.
The campaign featured Euphoria actress Sydney Sweeney sporting seven different looks. There was denim on denim (with nothing underneath), the timeless jeans-and-white-tee combo, and everything in between. The brand went all in on the marketing blitz. 14 separate Instagram posts featuring Sweeney, and even a profile-picture change on Facebook.
But the problems started with just the second post from the campaign.
In it, Sweeney is lying down in her denim-on-denim look, doing her usual sultry thing, but it was the background text that sent the internet into a spiral. The copy struck a nerve. What followed was a series of posts that only added fuel to the fire.
There she was - a blonde, blue-eyed white woman - front and centre of a campaign that repeatedly played on the pun between "genes" and "jeans". In one now-viral reel, Sweeney is seen buttoning up her jeans while breathing heavily. "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour," she says, before the camera pans up to her piercing blue eyes. "My jeans are blue."
Another post read, "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans."
The campaign tried to be cheeky, a nod to how people often say actors have "great genes". Only this time, Sydney leaned into it... while literally buttoning her jeans.
And just when viewers thought they might be overthinking it all, the brand posted a clip where Sweeney very deliberately swaps the word genes for jeans.
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A post shared by American Eagle (@americaneagle)
Sigh.
What started as a mildly cringey pun began to feel like something much darker. Critics on the Internet quickly pointed out that the messaging echoed themes of 'eugenics', 'white supremacy' and similar other themes. And while that may or may not have been the intent, the resemblance was hard to ignore.
A user also commented that the campaign is giving "subtle 1930s Germany," directly comparing the campaign to Nazi Germany and Hitler's obsession with promoting a singular "master race" or Aryan race ideology. Great genes. That's what Hitler's whole argument of Nazism stood on.
Backlash from the left followed. There was praise from the right (Sweeney's family is openly conservative). And then came the calls for boycott.
Pop star and singer Doja Cat also roasted Sweeney's campaign by mimicking the lines from the viral post, with bleached blonde hair.
Doja Cat mocks Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle commercial in new TikTok. pic.twitter.com/22nLoguWGG
— Pop Base (@PopBase) July 29, 2025
But despite the uproar, the campaign did what it was probably designed to do - go viral. It trended, made headlines, and a week later, people were still talking about it. Even more telling? Stocks of the parent company jumped by 4 percent.
So, yes, the campaign worked. But at what cost?
The Male Gaze
Another criticism levelled at the campaign is its apparent catering to the male gaze, ironic, given that the brand's primary target were women for this campaign.
"Pandering to the male gaze? Check. Laziness? Check. Objectifying women in 2025? Check. This is why American Eagle is no longer relevant. Embarrassing," one user commented, capturing a sentiment that echoed across social media.
The issue, as many saw it, wasn't just the creative execution.
It was the broader context. Sweeney, often celebrated (and critiqued) for her unabashed embrace of her voluptuous body and her sizeable male fanbase, was presented in ways that seemed designed less for female empowerment and more for male consumption.
The campaign, critics, umm random people on X and Instagram argued, relied on objectification as a sales tactic, using Sweeney's image to appeal to women while simultaneously commodifying her for men.
The Bathwater Soap Controversy
This isn't the first time Sweeney has found herself at the centre of a controversy that straddles the fine line between marketing genius and exploitative gimmick. Just weeks earlier, she partnered with Dr Squatch to launch a limited-edition soap dubbed Sydney's Bathwater Bliss, a product that included, quite literally, droplets of her actual bathwater.
Priced at USD 8 and capped at 5,000 bars, the soap sold out almost immediately, despite widespread criticism, particularly from women. Still, the campaign's viral nature appeared to work in the brand's favour. Within weeks, Dr Squatch was acquired by consumer goods giant Unilever for a staggering USD 1.5 billion.
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A post shared by Dr. Squatch (@drsquatch)
So, was American Eagle's campaign a poorly executed dad joke gone rogue? Or was it a calculated move designed to stir just enough controversy to spark conversation and sales? That's for you to decide.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, the brand quietly shifted gears. Their latest post featured a different model (a Black woman) donning a denim-on-denim ensemble. The caption read simply: "denim on denim on denim... on denim. AE has great jeans."
Many viewed it as a move towards damage control, an attempt to recalibrate the campaign's optics after the backlash.
Is it enough to change the narrative? American Eagle might say yes. Others might say no. All the while, the brand's stocks are laughing all the way to the bank.