When ‘great jeans’ become political theatre
Sydney Sweeney’s campaign with American Eagle should have been a straightforward celebrity endorsement. Instead, it’s quickly turned into a masterclass in how multiple messaging missteps can completely overshadow a genuinely positive cause.
What was intended as clever wordplay about the actress having ‘great genes/jeans’ has instead become an incendiary cultural flashpoint, with backlash towards the campaign’s perceived eugenic undertones demonstrating the perils of tone-deaf messaging.
The autumn campaign, dubbed ‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’, launched as American Eagle’s most expensive campaign to date, strategically timed for the critical back-to-school season. The effort features the White Lotus and Euphoria actress in head-to-toe denim alongside billboards proclaiming her ‘good genes’ before she crosses out ‘genes’ and replaces it with ‘jeans’: a completely unoriginal wordplay.
If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking they should leave the genes/jeans wordplay to great causes like Jeans for Genes Day. In which case, you might also be surprised to learn that the ill-fated campaign was, in fact, meant to be linked to domestic violence support.
The campaign promotes a limited edition ‘Sydney Jean’ featuring a butterfly motif representing domestic violence awareness, with all proceeds directed to Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit crisis counselling service. Yet this charitable component and domestic violence awareness have been almost entirely eclipsed by the controversy and the non-sequitur of a steamy, scantily-clad focus on Sydney’s appearance.
The campaign’s massive backlash hasn’t been all bad for the denim purveyor, though: since the campaign was launched earlier this week, the company’s stock price has surged.
You could speculate that the controversy was intentional, with the ultimate goal to turn outrage and debate into traffic. But if that’s the case, why play around with domestic violence awareness, and why wind back the planned marketing once the attention reached fever pitch?
How social media backlash turns into a political firestorm
The controversy erupted almost immediately upon the campaign’s launch, with social media users accusing American Eagle of teasing at eugenics, a discredited scientific theory popular among white supremacists that the human race could be improved by breeding out less desirable traits.
Critics have accused the ad of peddling Nazi propaganda, pointing out that the play on words with ‘great genes’ has racist connotations and veers towards white supremacist ideals. The criticism centres on the use of a thin, white, conventionally attractive actress as the embodiment of genetic ‘greatness’ – a visual and linguistic combination that many found deeply problematic.
The backlash has been swift and substantial in major media and social media across multiple continents.
However, the response has been decidedly polarised. The discourse has also drawn retaliatory backlash from others online who say the criticisms of the ad campaign are an exaggeration. Some are embracing the political undertone of the ad by hailing it as an end to overly ‘woke’ marketing campaigns.
The controversy has even attracted political figures, with US Republican senator Ted Cruz blaming the ‘crazy left’ for the backlash, while Donald Trump Jr created his own parody version featuring an AI-generated image of his father in a similar pose.
Wardrobe malfunction
As the controversy has intensified, American Eagle has reportedly engaged a crisis communications firm to manage the fallout and has pulled back from its star-powered marketing push.
The fact that a campaign with such obvious potential for misinterpretation made it through multiple layers of review – creative teams, account management, client approvals, legal reviews, and more – suggests either a fundamental failure in the approval process or a concerning lack of diverse perspectives in decision-making rooms.
Even if you take away the noise regarding eugenics, the tone deaf campaign implies that some people have ‘bad genes’ (let’s be clear: no one has bad genes). And even if you determine that this campaign was all in good humour, and everyone needs to settle down and not be so easily offended, the fact remains: this wasn’t a driver of domestic violence awareness as the brand intended, but was ultimately a cogent lesson in slapstick marketing.
American Eagle’s campaign is the latest in a long line of brands thinking they can hack the system with a simple (and lazy) equation: slap big dollars and a big-name celebrity here, and stick a noble cause there, and you will inevitably get great press, increased sales, beneficial talkability, and brand loyalty.
American Eagle may have succeeded in securing press and talkability, and their stock price may be up for now, but whether this attention is the kind that supports sales and brand loyalty remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Sydney Sweeney’s reputation is taking a hit, and we have yet another instance of superficiality and drama overshadowing domestic violence awareness. Because at the end of the day, good intentions and good jeans cannot salvage poor execution.
Keep up to date with the latest in media and marketing
Likely to be one of the best marketing campaigns this year..
Despite what the perpetually offended may say or ‘feel’.
User ID not verified.
Having “great genes” means that someone is hot. That’s it. Doesn’t matter what race they are.
User ID not verified.
So what you call an “ill-fated” campaign drove AE’s market cap up US$200m, they sold out of the limited edition jean in 3 hours, and generated hundreds of millions of cross-platform impressions. Imagine the sort of success they could have had if they had taken all your sage advice.
User ID not verified.
Forget the static and the woke, it was good and deserves credit!
User ID not verified.
The campaign rocks, look at the sales. End of discussion
User ID not verified.
Couldn’t disagree more with this article.
It’s brilliant marketing – it’s no wonder the stock price has surged.
For the critics to effectively call people who like Sydney Sweeney – “white nationalists” and “fascists” – is incredibly insulting, tone deaf and offensive.
User ID not verified.
As usual the forever victims try to outshout the silent sane majority. It failed this time, the ads are brilliant. AE product would have never been purchased by a forever victim in the first place, so no loss there.
User ID not verified.
Have your say