'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans' ads lift American Eagle stock price

A controversy involving actress Sydney Sweeney, U.S. President Donald Trump and clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters continues to swirl, with the company’s stock up over 20 per cent in trading early this week after a divisive ad campaign that was launched in July. Here’s what to know.

Jeans. The famously blue-eyed, blonde, buxom American actress appeared in an ad for American Eagle jeans in July under the tagline: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”

The ad is a cheeky play on the words genes and jeans. In one 15-second spot that makes the comparison obvious, she says: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour.” She then adds: “My jeans are blue.”

Some critics have attempted to drum up controversy over whether there is some nefarious trumpeting of eugenics or racism at play.

Sayantani DasGupta, a physician and lecturer at Columbia University, said in her own TikTok video that the campaign was “really imbued with eugenic messaging,” comparing it to Trump’s remarks in 2020 that Minnesotans had “good genes.”

“It is both a testament to this political moment, and it’s contributing to and reinforcing this kind of anti-immigrant, anti-people of colour, pro-eugenic political moment,” she said.

American Eagle has since responded with an Instagram post stating that the campaign “is and always was about the jeans,” adding: “Great jeans look good on everyone.”

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The U.S. president took to social media on Monday to state: “Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the HOTTEST ad out there,” adding: “Go get ’em Sydney!”

On Monday, Trump also told a reporter in Pennsylvania: “If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.”

The BBC and other outlets report that Sweeney has been registered as a Republican in the state of Florida since 2024, but notes that she has not spoken out about politics, telling GQ magazine in a 2023 interview: “Honestly, I feel like nothing I say can help the conversation.”

According to the New York Times, American Eagle’s stock rose by more than 23 per cent on Monday, following Trump’s endorsement. On Tuesday the company stock was trading at between US$12 and US$13, before closing out the day at US$12.02. However, that remains a far cry from where it was last August, when it reached more than US$26 before a gradual, year-long decline.

When the ad launched, AdWeek magazine noted that the company would not say what the cost was, but that it was “significantly more” than past campaigns. The magazine also noted the company had “a rough start to the year,” reporting a US$68-million adjusted operating loss in the first quarter, “thanks to the impact of tariffs, product misses, and a cold spring.”

“The pressure is on even more because of the uncertain economic environment that we’re navigating,” chief marketing officer Craig Brommers told the magazine.

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