American Eagle's new ad with Sydney Sweeney faces backlash
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc., a clothing and apparel retailer headquartered in South Side, has gone viral over the past few days for a controversial denim campaign starring actress Sydney Sweeney.
The campaign’s tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” sparked backlash. Some have accused the clothing company of making nods to white supremacy by teasing the idea of eugenics, a discredited scientific theory that the human population would be improved by breeding out less desirable traits. Online debate about Western beauty standards, race, “woke” politics and culture took over the internet.
In one version of the campaign, Sweeney, 27, who is blonde with blue eyes, is on her back and struggling to button and zip her jeans while the camera pans up to her face.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,” the A-list actress said in the advertisement. “My jeans are blue.”
Sweeney has starred in television shows “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” along with several movies.
Sydney Sweeney x American Eagle, oh my god. pic.twitter.com/tDkeGT9R7G
— Sydney Sweeney Daily (@sweeneydailyx) July 24, 2025
Another version shows Sweeney washing a billboard of herself with the words “Sydney Sweeney has great genes,” which then cuts to replace “genes” with “jeans.”
Eugenics was heavily adopted during the 20th century in Nazi Germany as Adolf Hitler popularized it in his plan to create the ideal Aryan race.
“It’s just a little bit weird to to directly reference Europeans jeans as better, as Superior. To make that kind of joke in this political economic state of the world right now it’s a little weird,” said one influencer in a video with over 124,000 views.
TikTok influencer Brandon Edelman said that the Sweeney x American Eagle campaign was a perfect example of why companies need diversity, equity and inclusion programs — otherwise, they run the risk of having groupthink.
“This is why it is so important when you are running a business to hire people from all walks of life,” he said in his video.
Chad Prather, a conservative political commentator, comedian and internet personality, stitched another content creator’s video on the social media platform X with the caption, “If Sydney Sweeney in jeans ruins your worldview, maybe your worldview is the problem!”
If Sydney Sweeney in jeans ruins your worldview, maybe your worldview is the problem!
Where were these same liberal women when Calvin Klein, Ulta, Budweiser were replacing women with men?? pic.twitter.com/2EP3U1Njy8
— Chad Prather (@WatchChad) July 29, 2025
Others pointed to similar ads, such as a Calvin Klein’s campaign in the 1980s that featured Brooke Shields; and a Dunkin ad, which was released shortly after American Eagle’s ad and features Gavin Casalegno, who talks about his genes giving him a natural tan.
Brooke Shields was a strong supporter of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
She did this ad for Calvin Klein jeans in 1980.
Democrats will certainly be outraged at Shields for talking about “genes,” just like they were outraged at Sydney Sweeney.
Right? pic.twitter.com/H9FqWwdTk7
— Paul A. Szypula ???????? (@Bubblebathgirl) July 29, 2025
Following Sydney Sweeney’s “great jeans” American Eagle ad, Dunkin’ has released a similar campaign featuring Texas-born actor and model Gavin Casalegno.
“I didn’t ask to be the King of Summer… it just kinda’ happened. This tan? Genetics.”
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/J8uuwvOE9k
— AF Post (@AFpost) July 30, 2025
In a post on X, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, reacted with this statement: “Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women.”
The campaign, announced on July 23, was described as a “return to essential denim dressing and a celebration of what the beloved brand does best: making customers look and feel good in AE Jeans,” on American Eagle’s website. The link to the campaign materials, which was featured in American Eagle’s original press release, did not attach to anywhere on Thursday.
American Eagle’s stock closed more than 4% up the day after Sweeney’s collaboration with the retailer was announced. Shares were volatile this week and trading nearly 2% down Wednesday, as reported by the Associated Press.
On Thursday, neither the company nor Sweeney had put out a statement or response to the backlash.
American Eagle Outfitters did not respond to TribLive’s request for comment.
Megan Trotter is a TribLive staff writer. She can be reached at mtrotter@triblive.com.
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