“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”
In the American Eagle commercial released in the last week of July, Sydney Sweeney murmurs this odd line while the camera pans up her body as she buttons up her jeans. This is just one of a few commercials that American Eagle created featuring Sweeney, all of them taking place in odd, empty spaces. At the end of each clip, the screen flashes with the phrase, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” in all caps.
https://youtu.be/YzVYyDehMUY?si=DS50pa5zWlTJQAxA
Soon after these commercials were released, the public lashed out at both Sweeney and American Eagle. The campaign’s attempt to be witty using a double entendre of “genes” and “jeans” went poorly, considering it came from Sweeney, who has blonde hair and blue eyes. **Many people accused the campaign of having an underlying message of eugenics or just flat out promoting the right agenda.**
The video that contains the line has been deleted across all of American Eagle’s social media platforms, indicating that the negative interpretation of the campaign was unintentional. However, this situation has shown that not all bad press is good press.
Given the current US government’s agenda to eliminate policies that promote diversity and protect minority groups, the clothing company tanked their reputation with a large portion of their consumers: young women. The perception was soured further by the fact that the ad was supposed to promote awareness and charity:
“As part of the campaign, AE will launch “ The Sydney Jean,”... A butterfly motif on the back pocket of the jean represents domestic violence awareness, which Sydney is passionate about. In support of the cause, 100% of the purchase price from “ The Sydney Jean” will be donated to Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit offering free, 24/7, confidential mental health support to anyone in need—just text 741741.”
Many viewers also noted that the ad was a nod to a 1980 Calvin Klein commercial featuring a 14-year old Brooke Shields similarly pulling up a pair of jeans. This ad is widely recognized to be controversial, taking advantage of the naivete of a child actor to say the line: “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” So… definitely not the best commercial to reference back to.
Despite the philanthropic motives of the campaign, the eugenic and sexual undertone completely opposed them, which may have led to a decrease in foot traffic in American Eagle stores. According to Forbes, the following week saw a sharp 9% decrease in store visits. Although this may have improved now, Retail Brew more recently detailed that foot traffic has decreased 1.3% year over year (a company's from a specific period to the same period in the prior year).