From its glossy campaigns to its patriotic name, clothing brand American Eagle is a physical manifestation of Americanism, so who better to represent it than All-American it girl, Sydney Sweeney? In a recent ad, Sweeney appeared in a (seemingly innocuous) denim campaign, but some critics speculated that a more sinister undertone lay beneath.

While there’s no formula for creating one of the best adverts of all time, you want to make it memorable. Sadly, American Eagle’s latest campaign has attracted attention for all the wrong reasons. Be it an unfortunate choice of tone or a veiled alt-right dogwhistle, the controversy has ignited a blazing internet debate that won’t be extinguished anytime soon.

Appearing in a series of stripped-back ads, Sweeney’s denim campaign features her spouting suggestive one-liners and posing sultrily for the camera – nothing new, we’ve been seeing brands like Calvin Klein doing it for years. What struck a nerve with critics was the campaign’s seemingly innocuous tagline, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”.

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Throughout the ads, Sweeney makes various gestures to the word’s double meaning, saying “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour.” With lingering shots of the actress’ face, rather than the jeans in question, some viewers felt the ads were pushing a sinister undertone, with claims that the ads were a “dogwhistle” for alt-right propaganda.

“This ad campaign got so caught up in this ‘clever’ play on words and this stunt the ppl in the room missed what was so blatantly obvious to anyone not White,” one Instagram commenter wrote. “Are you trying to appeal to men by objectifying women…to increase women’s jean sales??” another questioned, while others called it “abhorrent”, “shameful” and “miscalculated”.

It’s hard to ignore the parallels to alt-right ideals, as the topic of ‘genes’ draws unsavoury connections to eugenics and white supremacy, not helped by the focus on Sweeney’s stereotypically aryan features. Whether the ad’s disturbing undertone was intentional, it’s clear that the campaign’s bizarre combination of oversexualisation and questionable wordplay is not welcome in today’s advertising sphere.

(Image credit: American Eagle)

In many ways, I’m astounded that the ads even got approved. The 90s/Y2K hypersexualised ad campaign should’ve died a death years ago, and the intense backlash to these ads proves we’ve moved on. Nowadays, we’re hungry for advertising prowess that makes us think – something that immerses us in visuals we’ve never seen before or creativity that transcends the typical boundaries of advertising. Whether you agree with the criticism or not, fundamentally, what American Eagle delivered to us is a soulless, derivative campaign that lacks purpose, style and nuance.

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For more creative insight, check out the challenges of branding in 2025 or take a look at how to build a future-proof brand according to JKR’s executive creative directors.

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