American Eagle’s Male-Geared Sydney Sweeney Ads Have Gen Z Women Scratching Their Heads

I too am scratching my head. I don't know how to process this. Should I be wearing women's jeans? Hey wait a minute! I don't wear jeans.

American Eagle’s Male-Geared Sydney Sweeney Ads Have Gen Z Women Scratching Their Heads

The campaign reflects the return of sexualized marketing in a ‘new era’ of ads

By Megan Graham, WSJ

July 31, 2025 2:14 pm ET

American Eagle’s jeans campaign with Sydney Sweeney drew criticism for its sexualized approach and focus on Sweeney’s appearance.

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A racy, widely panned jeans campaign for American Eagle Outfitters starring “Euphoria” actress Sydney Sweeney is bringing into question whether the retailer accidentally strayed from its typically female-friendly marketing or deliberately tried to shift focus.

American Eagle went big with the effort, planning elements including a Sphere takeover in Las Vegas, 3-D billboards in Times Square and Los Angeles, and a “Euphoria” partnership on HBO Max, Chief Marketing Officer Craig Brommers said on LinkedIn, where company executives raved about the campaign.

The campaign broke through, inspiring retail investors to make American Eagle a meme stock and Donald Trump Jr. to post a parody on Instagram.

The brand had asked Sweeney how far she wanted to “push it,” wrote Ashley Schapiro, vice president of marketing, media, performance and engagement, on LinkedIn. “Without hesitation, she smirked … and said, ‘Let’s push it, I’m game.’ ”

That post now appears to have been deleted.

The ads, themed “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” also quickly drew criticism. Some people said the pun on “great genes” with Sweeney as the sole example glorified blonde hair and blue eyes.

Others said the effort—including an ad in which the camera pans down to Sweeney’s breasts before she playfully scolds, “Hey, eyes up here”—hardly seemed intended for many likely customers of the denim she models.

That tone also seemed at odds with the campaign’s nod to domestic violence awareness, which American Eagle said in a press release was an important issue to Sweeney. The company said 100% of the purchase price from limited-edition jeans with a butterfly on the back pocket would be donated to the Crisis Text Line, a non-profit offering mental health support.

“Why is American Eagle using Sydney Sweeney to attract the male gaze when she’s wearing jeans for WOMEN?” one TikTok user said in a post reacting to the campaign. “We aren’t going to buy jeans because they zoomed in on her chest.”

Other videos in social media feature young consumers explaining why they don’t think the ads work or spoofing their approach.

White House communications director Steven Cheung on X defended the campaign, calling criticism “cancel culture run amok.”

American Eagle didn’t respond to requests for comment. The company in May withdrew its annual outlook, citing unpredictable consumer spending, then reported a loss of $85 million and 3% decline in comparable sales in its fiscal first quarter ending May 3.

American Eagle and a sub-brand, Aerie intimate apparel and activewear, previously have been lauded for inclusive advertising and sizing.

The new campaign seems “like a departure from their core values,” said Jen Costello, global chief strategy officer of advertising agency TBWA Worldwide.

It harkens to a dated sexuality that was common in ads of the past, Costello added. “It really does speak to the sophistication that culture now has around imagery and advertising. I think people have just gotten smarter,” she said. “That feels almost like something from the 80’s or the 90’s. People just don’t buy it anymore.”

Some have compared American Eagle’s new campaign to Calvin Klein’s campaign in the 1980s starring a young Brooke Shields, including a commercial in which Shields wrestles on a pair of jeans while explaining genealogy.

Marketing lately has been changing again, bringing more sexualized marketing back to the fore and provoking controversies.

U.K. advertising regulators last year banned a Calvin Klein ad that they found presented singer FKA Twigs as “a stereotypical sexual object,” then reversed themselves after FKA Twigs and others disagreed. Burger chain Carl’s Jr. in February returned to its longtime strategy of sexually-charged marketing with an ad starring influencer Alix Earle wearing little clothing.

“It’s quite clear that we’re in a new era for advertising,” said Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Advertisers have been reluctant to risk being accused of pandering to “woke” ideas, as evidenced by this year’s religiously apolitical Super Bowl ads. “Brands over the past decade have become very careful about being inclusive in their advertising, and I think now clearly that’s changing,” Calkins said.

Breaking through with consumers meanwhile has steadily become more difficult. “This was a very strategic effort to do something that pushed the limits, attracted attention and got people to notice the brand,” Calkins said.

American Eagle could have flipped the approach to shoot the campaign through a female lens, styling it in a way that was more powerful for Sweeney, according to Sunny Bonnell, co-founder and CEO of branding agency Motto. “It could have still been fashion-forward, and maybe it would have landed with a sense of authorship,” Bonnell said.

Whether or not American Eagle should have anticipated a negative reaction to its play on “genes,” Bonnell pointed out that consumers are quick to ascribe meaning even where a brand did not intend it.

“You can carefully script the story you want. You can try to tell the story you want to tell, but the public will remix it. They will reframe it,” she said. “We live in a culture now where every move, whether you’re a public figure or brand, they’re scanning it for meaning.”