American Eagle (AEO) has had a rough few months. Amid its battle with declining sales, the retailer’s advertising campaign with actress Sydney Sweeney, which was released in August, sparked a massive uproar from consumers.
The campaign features several ads in which the actress sports blue American Eagle jeans and makes puns on the words “jeans” and “genes” to reference her appearance.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,” she said in one ad. “My jeans are blue.”
The tagline of the campaign is “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
The ad appeared to be a nod to actress Brooke Shields’ 1980 Calvin Klein commercial, in which she also plays on the words “jeans” and “genes.”
“Natural selection, which filters out those genes better equipped than others to endure in the environment,” said Shields in the Calvin Klein commercial. “This may result in the origin of an entirely new species, which brings us to Calvin’s and the survival of the fittest.”
Consumers took to social media to flag that American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney ad campaign promotes fascism and eugenics, which is the belief that selective breeding for certain inherited, desirable human traits can improve future generations.
In one viral TikTok video criticizing the ad, TikTok user jessbritvich said that “nothing in this ad was accidental” and that it serves as a “dog whistle” that signals “the rise of fascism in America.”
“Sydney Sweeney’s blonde-haired, blue-eyed, thin, voluptuous, and all-the-right-places body is being presented as a lineage of genes worthy of reproduction, and it positions her within this larger trend of white femininity being used to justify regressive politics. Even if you want to say it’s a reach, it’s not. This language has cultural context, and by making an emphasis on Sydney Sweeney’s genes, with a ‘G’, saying that Sydney Sweeney is not just beautiful, but her blue genes are worthy of replication. No, I really don’t think this is an accident. We’re seeing a rise of anti-woke consumer branding.” – jessbritvich
American Eagle CEO responds to the controversy
In a new interview with The Wall Street Journal, American Eagle CEO Jay Schottenstein said that as the controversy over the Sydney Sweeney ad campaign grew, he told executives at the company to stay calm and instructed employees not to comment on the ads.
“You can’t run from fear,” said Schottenstein. “We stand behind what we did.”
He also said that the company polled customers to gain insight into their thoughts about the ads, and the results showed that they actually enjoyed them.
Shortly after the ads were released, American Eagle’s sales increased. The Sweeney Cinched Waist denim jacket sold out in a day, and the Sydney Jean sold out in a week. American Eagle saw almost a million new customers between July and September.
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Schottenstein, who is an Orthodox Jew, said that he was confused about the campaign receiving criticism for promoting eugenics, a term he is very familiar with, especially since his mother-in-law grew up in Nazi Germany.
“I’m very conscious of that term,” said Schottenstein. He added that if he and his team had felt the campaign would be offensive in that way, “we never would’ve done it.”
His comments come after American Eagle Chief Marketing Officer Craig Brahmers said during an earnings call on Sept. 3 that the Sydney Sweeney ad campaign is here to stay, since it drastically boosted consumer demand in the U.S.
“Sydney Sweeney has great genes is not going anywhere,” said Brahmers. “Sydney will be part of our team as we get into the back half of the year. And we will be introducing new elements of the campaign as we continue forward.”
American Eagle is recovering from a major flop in sales
American Eagle’s commitment to the controversial ad campaign comes after it struggled to attract customers into its stores during the second quarter of this year, as concerns over tariffs and inflation rise.
In its second-quarter earnings report for 2025, American Eagle revealed that its comparable sales decreased by 3% year-over-year. As sales dipped, revenue also dropped by 3.2%.
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The decrease in consumer demand comes as mall visits have been declining across the retail sector since June. Consumer sentiment is also decreasing nationwide.
According to recent data from the University of Michigan, consumer sentiment decreased by 4.8% in September, compared to August, its lowest point since May.
“Consumers continue to note multiple vulnerabilities in the economy, with rising risks to business conditions, labor markets, and inflation,” said University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu in a statement. “Likewise, consumers perceive risks to their pocketbooks as well.”
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