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Professor reacts to Ted Cruz's comments about American Eagle, Sydney Sweeney debate

Professor reacts to Ted Cruz's comments about American Eagle, Sydney Sweeney debate

CNN2 days ago
Author and clinical professor of marketing Marcus Collins joins MJ Lee on 'Early Start' to weigh in on the backlash American Eagle is receiving following its advertising campaign with actress Sydney Sweeney.
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American Eagle breaks silence on Sydney Sweeney ‘great jeans' ad controversy
American Eagle breaks silence on Sydney Sweeney ‘great jeans' ad controversy

New York Post

timean hour ago

  • New York Post

American Eagle breaks silence on Sydney Sweeney ‘great jeans' ad controversy

Some things just can't stay buttoned up. American Eagle has responded to critics after the brand's new denim campaign with Sydney Sweeney caused major controversy. ''Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans,' the company said Friday in a statement obtained by The Post. 'Her jeans. Her story.' Advertisement 7 Sydney Sweeney posing for American Eagle's new denim ad campaign. American Eagle 7 American Eagle shared this response on Friday after their new 'Great Jeans' campaign with Sydney Sweeney caused major controversy. Instagram/@americaneagle 'We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,' the statement continued. 'Great jeans look good on everyone.' Advertisement Sweeney, 27, and American Eagle faced backlash earlier this week after the blonde-haired, blue-eyed 'White Lotus' starlet appeared in a new denim ad for the popular clothing and accessories retailer. 'I have great jeans… now you can too,' the 'Euphoria' actress wrote on Instagram on July 23, alongside a video for the controversial campaign. 7 Sydney Sweeney posing for American Eagle's new 'Great Jeans' ad campaign. American Eagle But the tagline, which was seemingly a pun on the word 'genes,' had some social media users comparing the marketing move to 'Nazi propaganda.' Advertisement 'I thought it was gonna be, like, kinda bad, but wow,' one critic wrote on TikTok. 'That's gonna be in history books!' 'I will be the friend that's too woke, but those Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ads are weird,' another added. 'Like, fascist weird. Like Nazi propaganda weird.' 7 An ad from American Eagle's new 'Great Jeans' campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney. American Eagle 'Like, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white woman is talking about her good genes. That is Nazi Propaganda,' a third person commented, while a fourth responded, 'Saying that a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl has 'good genes' is Nazi s–t.' Advertisement Singers Lizzo, 37, and Doja Cat, 29, also took to social media to ridicule Sweeney and American Eagle over the controversy. 'My jeans are black…' the 'Truth Hurts' singer wrote alongside a digitally altered picture showing herself in the denim shirt and jeans that Sweeney wore for the American Eagle photo shoot. 7 An ad from American Eagle's controversial new ad campaign with 'Euphoria' star Sydney Sweeney. American Eagle Doja Cat shared a TikTok video of herself repeating Sweeney's American Eagle campaign monologue with an exaggerated accent. However, others came to the 'Anyone But You' star's defense and agreed that American Eagle's new denim campaign was nothing beyond a clever play on words. 'I'm confused, why are people outraged by this?' one fan wrote on Instagram. 'She looks stunning!' 7 Sydney Sweeney in American Eagle's new denim 'Great Jeans' campaign. American Eagle 'You have absolutely nothing to apologize for,' someone else commented, while a third wrote, 'If you want to hate on this ad campaign, please go touch grass!' Advertisement Still, American Eagle appeared to distance itself from the 'Nazi propaganda' backlash by sharing other ads from the campaign that did not feature Sweeney. 'Denim on denim on denim… on denim,' the company wrote alongside the new ad on July 27. 'AE has great jeans.' 7 Sydney Sweeney wearing all denim and lying on the ground for American Eagle's new 'Great Jeans' ad campaign. American Eagle Plus, American Eagle's stock rose more than 10% immediately after the new campaign kicked off on July 23. Advertisement Sweeney herself has yet to respond to the backlash and controversy caused by her 'Great Jeans' ad campaign.

American Eagle responds to critics over ad with Sydney Sweeney, saying it was always about the jeans

time2 hours ago

American Eagle responds to critics over ad with Sydney Sweeney, saying it was always about the jeans

NEW YORK -- Teen retailer American Eagle Outfitters has a message to its critics, who took issue over its denim ad campaign with 27-year-old actor Sydney Sweeney that sparked a debate over race and Western beauty standards. The campaign, the retailer said, was always about the jeans. In a statement posted on American Eagle's Instagram account on Friday, the retailer said the ad campaign '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.' The message marked the first time the teen retailer responded to days of backlash since the ad with the tagline 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans' launched last week. In the run-up to the ad blitz, the company's chief marketing officer told trade media outlets that it included 'clever, even provocative language' and was 'definitely going to push buttons." It's unclear if the company knew how much controversy the ad could raise. Most of the negative reception focused on videos that used the word 'genes' instead of 'jeans' when discussing the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor known for the HBO series 'Euphoria' and 'White Lotus.' Critics found the most troubling was a teaser video in which Sweeney says, 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.' The video appeared on American Eagle's Facebook page and other social media channels but is not part of the ad campaign. Some critics saw the wordplay as a nod, either unintentional or deliberate, to eugenics, a discredited theory that held humanity could be improved through selective breeding for certain traits. Other commenters accused detractors of reading too much into the campaign's message. Some marketing experts said the buzz is always good even if it's not uniformly positive. 'If you try to follow all the rules, you'll make lots of people happy, but you'll fail,' Allen Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce said. 'The rocket won't take off.'

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