In August of 2025, the popular clothing brand American Eagle released an ad campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney to promote their denim and jeans. However, instead of having the influential impact they expected, the company actually experienced backlash that caused its foot traffic rate to fall nearly 9% and have since deleted the ad.
What was so controversial about it? Well, the monologue chosen for Sydney throughout the ad left a lot of eyebrows raised. “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue” was the most popular quote from the campaign, and the most controversial. These choices made by the company have caused a lot of people to accuse the campaign of promoting eugenics, which is a disproven theory popular among white supremacists who claim that the human race could be improved by taking out “undesirable traits.” Another critique about the ad was the hypersexualized nature of it, adding an overall sensual vibe.
When some students here at Cypress were asked if they knew about the controversy, and how they felt about the American Eagle campaign, a few other ads in particular came up. The spotlight has since been put on two ads that the company Gap has put out, one featuring the girl group KATSEYE, and the other featuring the Australian singer Troye Sivan. Jessica Rodriguez Medina tells the Panther Post, “I think the KATSEYE Gap ad is better than the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad. It’s entertaining and makes you want to actually buy the jeans, showing the different variations and styles of the jeans and how they look on different women.” Similarly, Amy Grochowski says, “I liked the Troye Sivan ad better. It was fun and satisfying to watch, and it leaves a bigger and more positive impact than the Sydney Sweeney Ad.”
Clearly, the opinion that the campaign put out by American Eagle this summer did not achieve the influence it might have wanted to is a popular one. It is very important to display diversity when marketing because it allows you to reach a wider audience, and gain more positive viewership. So hopefully in the future, clothing companies worldwide will take the backlash American Eagle recently received, and create advertisements that reach and inspire as many people as possible.