When American Eagle launched its fall campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney with the cheeky tagline “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” the expected outrage frenzy was immediate.
In the ad, the 27-year-old actress says, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”
YouTube screengrab // fair use
It’s a pun, a play on the words genes and jeans, as even the Los Angeles Times acknowledged.
Critics accused the spot of echoing eugenic or white supremacist rhetoric because Sweeney is blonde, blue-eyed, and framed as genetically “blue.” Some even labeled it “Nazi propaganda."
Yet the real shock was how the backlash backfired.
American Eagle’s stock price surged, delivering triple‑digit millions to shareholders and a renewed sense of brand vitality.
It was also a big middle finger to flummoxed leftists who thought boycotts and social media outrage would bring American Eagle to its knees, groveling for forgiveness amidst promises to do better, along with large donations to Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton’s grift operations.
According to Reuters coverage, the Sweeney campaign alone boosted American Eagle’s stock by about 20 percent, adding hundreds of millions in market value in just one day.
Meanwhile, critics on the left dismissed the campaign as tone‑deaf or even dangerous. On X, outrage posts proliferated and were mostly unhinged. A few comments can be read here:
The level of outrage Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad has sparked among white liberal women is honestly wild
White supremacy propaganda, racially charged
Black people will eventully be “hung”
Xenophobic, racist, scientifically inaccurate
One X post claimed, “Her initials are SS. Can it be more obvious?”
Perhaps an intrepid journalist could reach out to former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, Frank Figliuzzi, who in 2019 believed that President Trump flying American flags at half-mast until August 8 was “a wink and a nod to white supremacists”
After all, the date 8/8 is a “Nazi dog whistle” since the 8th letter of the alphabet is H and 8/8 means Heil Hitler. Or something like that. Does that mean that Hillary Clinton’s initials mean “hot chick”?
The contrarian response was equally loud.
Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad sparks outrage, but fans praise her for killing woke advertising
Even former Senator Ted Cruz weighed in, defending Sweeney and mocking the wokesters by saying, “Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women.”
Would overly-sensitive woke leftists suggest redoing the commercial, replacing Sydney Sweeney with, say, Stacey Abrams or Letitia James? Or effete Dylan Mulvaney? Or a fat, bearded guy pretending to be a woman? I’m sure that would boost sales.
Many argued that the ad acted as a cultural reset, returning to straightforward, Americana-inspired marketing where sex appeal and nostalgia still drive sales. This reinforces the axiom, “Get woke, go broke.”
I remember the times when Farrah Fawcett and Joe Namath provocatively advertised Noxzema shaving cream, and Cindy Crawford made young boys drool over Pepsi.
Contrast that with Jaguar's fate. In late 2024, Jaguar launched an edgy rebrand without any cars. Instead, it featured a Hunger Games cast with abstract designs and flamboyant visuals described as “diverse,” “avant-garde,” and social-justice oriented. It failed spectacularly.
In April 2025, European sales plummeted 97 percent, with only 49 vehicles sold across the continent compared to nearly 1,961 the previous year. To consumers, it seemed like tone-deaf virtue signaling where sales vanished, prestige collapsed, and brand value diminished. Last week, its CEO got the boot.
Fortunately, American Eagle did not apologize, grovel, or make promises of atonement to grifters like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. They stood by their star and brand and will likely remain the jeans of choice for much of America’s younger generation.
Here’s their response:
“Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.
In one corner is a sexy jeans ad that enraged virtue-signalers but boosted a brand’s cultural and financial standing. In the other corner, a woke rebrand that went too far left, causing Jaguar stock to plummet and removing the brand from many potential buyers' wish lists.
This pattern emphasizes a broader message conservatives should adopt. Mainly, most Americans aren’t offended by sexuality, beauty, or nostalgia. But they are turned off by sanctimony, moralism, and bemused moral outrage. The success of Sweeney’s campaign highlights the lasting appeal of simple marketing, one that sells jeans, jokes a little, and doesn’t lecture viewers.
Consumers are fed up with leftist scolds telling everyone what to think, buy, and support.
To critics who claimed the ad “promotes eugenics,” please explain other left-wing positions. Aborting over a million babies a year and chemically or surgically castrating teenagers below the age of consent are much clearer examples of eugenics than a pretty blonde woman talking about her genes/jeans.
Proceeds from the American Eagle “The Sydney Jean” benefit Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit that offers mental health support. This is a virtue that should be signaled.
Advertising strategists acknowledged that the pun of jeans/genes might be risky, but it was meant for comedic effect and to attract attention, especially from Gen Z conservatives who bristle at woke posturing.
This manufactured outrage highlights the absurdity of modern performative activism. Think of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dramatically crying in front of a fence in South Texas or Rep. Cory Booker pretending to be Spartacus, displaying theatrical outrage in the U.S. Senate chambers.
It’s interesting how quickly critics use historical trauma to dismiss minor cultural expressions. Meanwhile, a conservative Gen Z audience seeks sex appeal, humor, and irony. That's the market Sweeney and American Eagle targeted, and the stock market responded positively.
What’s the lesson?
One brand, Jaguar, doubled down on wokeness and failed. Another brand used sex appeal and humor and succeeded. For conservative publications and marketers, the lessons are clear.
American Eagle learned this lesson.
Compare their recent ad with one from 2019. Woke is dead.
X screenshot // fair use
Freedom and humor sell better than virtue-signaling, outrage, and guilt. Beauty and nostalgia are powerful tools in American advertising. Appeasing social media mobs of snowflakes and bots is the quickest way to alienate mainstream American consumers. Outrage might generate social media clicks, but smart marketing drives sales and increases share prices.
In a time when aesthetics, identity politics, and cultural symbolism are used as tools, America still buys jeans, especially when worn by an attractive young woman in a viral ad. The culture wars may persist, but the consumer still holds sway.
Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, Substack Dr. Brian’s Substack, Truth Social @BrianJoondeph, LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph, and email brianjoondeph@gmail.com.