American Eagle finally issues statement on Sydney Sweeney ad controversy: 'Great jeans look great...

The brand has spoken out after a week of online discourse and criticism. American Eagle finally issues statement on Sydney Sweeney ad controversy: 'Great jeans

The brand has spoken out after a week of online discourse and criticism.

American Eagle finally issues statement on Sydney Sweeney ad controversy: 'Great jeans look great on everyone'

The brand has spoken out after a week of online discourse and criticism.

By Mekishana Pierre

Published on August 1, 2025 05:51PM EDT

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Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ad. Credit:

It's been a little over a week since Sydney Sweeney's new ads for the American Eagle brand set the internet into a frenzy, and now the brand is speaking its piece.

On Friday, American Eagle shared an official statement on Instagram, addressing the accusations that its "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans" campaign espouses eugenics ideology — which promotes white genetic superiority and which historically enabled the forced sterilization of marginalized groups — and baited contrarians on the opposite end of the spectrum to blame it all on "wokeism."

"'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans, her story," reads the statement. "We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone."**

The response to AE's statement is as divided as the response to the campaign itself.

"Didn't think the response could be even worse than the ad but it somehow was," one commenter wrote. Another user wrote, "Wow, doubling down. I'll stick to buying second hand AE from now on. C'mon. To say that wasn't a euphemism is crazy."

On the other end of the spectrum, users celebrated the message. "Never bought AE but now I'm a customer," one comment reads, while another says, "Good publicity. I like your brand before this *controversy* but I like you guys even more now!"

Sydney Sweeney poses for American Eagle ad.

American Eagle unveiled its campaign featuring the *Anyone But You* star on July 23, and the reaction was swift.

The brand released several ads for the campaign, all which feature the 27-year-old actress in a pair of blue jeans in various locations doing simple things like looking down at the engine of her Ford Mustang — a very all-American muscle car — before she settles in behind the wheel and drives off.

The most criticized promo features the actress speaking of her "great genes" and not about the actual denim itself.

In the ad, Sweeney is shown reclining on a couch as she fastens her pants and murmurs, "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My genes are blue." Then a male narrator adds, "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans."

White House slams outrage over Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ads, calls it 'moronic'

Why are people angry at Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle jeans ad?

Content creators flocked to TikTok to share their thoughts on the brand's messaging, calling American Eagle out for having a white, blonde, blue-eyed woman talking about "good genes."

Conservative public figures voiced their thoughts on the campaign in the opposing direction, including White House communications director Steven Cheung and TV personality Megyn Kelly.

Most recently, Vice President JD Vance chimed in on the backlash during Friday's episode of the *Ruthless* podcast, saying he believed the discourse reveals "something pretty interesting" about Democrats.

"I actually thought that one of the lessons [Democrats] might take is we're going to be less crazy," Vance said. "And the lesson they have apparently taken is we're going to attack people as Nazis for thinking Sydney Sweeney is beautiful. Great strategy, guys. That;s how you're going to win the midterm, especially young American men."**

JD Vance speaks at the White House; Sydney Sweeney attends European premiere of 'Echo Valley' on June 10, 2025, in London.

Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty; Karwai Tang/WireImage

Vance added, "So much of the Democrats is oriented around hostility to basic American life. So you have a pretty girl doing a jeans ad and they can't help but freak out. It reveals a lot more about them than it does us."

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Despite claims that the Democratic Party has been fueling the flames behind the discourse, CNN White House producer Alejandra Jaramillo noted that "no prominent Democratic party leaders or officials have commented on the ad."

In fact, according to a study published by Media Matters, the only news broadcast paying much attention to the debate is Fox News.

Media Matters reported that Fox News has spent an hour and 25 minutes covering an American Eagle commercial since Monday, which is significantly more than its cable news counterparts.

The critics who have voiced disapproval of the Sweeney campaign have accused American Eagle of glorifying a racist ideal during a fraught political era.

A TikTok by user jessbritvich — referencing an ad in which Sweeney, wearing a denim jumpsuit, says, "My body's composition is determined by my genes (jeans)" — pointed out that the ad's implications fall in line with similar comments made by Donald Trump to a nearly all-white crowd in Bemidji, Minn., in 2020.

"In this ad... it's saying that Sydney has a great body and therefore great genes, a product of genetic superiority," she said. "Specifically saying these white, thin, traditionally feminine bodies are not just aspirational but symbols of morality, tradition, purity."

She added, "It's echoing the language of white purity politics, and purity of blonde hair and blue eyes. This language has cultural context... No, I really don't think this is an accident."

** has reached out to Sweeney's rep for comment.**

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