Fact Check: Did American Eagle Respond to Controversial Sydney Sweeney Jeans Ad?
American Eagle recently captured the attention of social media users worldwide for all the wrong reasons. The clothing company received criticism from people due to its latest jeans ad campaign. The controversial ad became viral online after critics questioned its implicit racism.
Now, a post went viral online claiming to be the company's response surrounding its controversial jeans ad, featuring Sydney Sweeney. Now the question is, did the clothing company release an official statement responding to the criticisms against its ad campaign? The truth is that the firm or its representatives never addressed the controversies surrounding the ad campaign.
The satirical post features an ad campaign photo of Sweeney with the statement, claiming to be published on the clothing company's official website. It had the company name and logo on it, making it look more real. The post read as follows - "BREAKING: American Eagle has issued a response to the drama surrounding their add, including Sydney Sweeney!"
This is the Alleged Company Statement:
To Whom It May Concern,
We sincerely apologize for featuring Sydney Sweeney in our recent advertisement.
In hindsight, we underestimated the combined impact of her blue eyes, blonde hair, and general hotness.
Also, we did not realize how big her boobs would be.
Our marketing team has been sent to denim sensitivity training.
Thank you for your feedback. Please stop emailing us.
(We're still trying to recover from the group chat fallout.)
Meanwhile, TMZ released an article on Wednesday (July 30) with a response from the clothing company. The media outlet later updated the report, stating that it had wrongly attributed the company representative.
The news article, which began with the words -- "American Eagle's feeling good about its new Sydney Sweeney commercial" -- had a quote attributing to the company's spokesperson. The quote read as follows:
This is yet another example of how social media is just not reflective of real life. The absurd response from some corners of the internet is absolutely not reflective of how American Eagle's customers feel.
The bottom line is that this was about creating a great pair of jeans and supporting a very worthy cause, with some of the proceeds going to domestic violence prevention. Anything beyond that is noise that is not registering with the average person.
Regardless of how people feel about the ad, we hope they can agree that we should be doing more to support and empower those who are experiencing domestic violence.
Shortly after publishing the article, TMZ updated it with the following statement:
TMZ wrongly attributed the information to an American Eagle spokesperson when this post was originally published. We have reached out to AE, but they had no comment.
The ad campaign, launched last week, features Sweeney in a head-to-toe denim look. It has along the lines -- My genes are blue -- and the tagline -- Sydney Sweeney has great jeans. The ad received several criticisms online as an Instagram user pointed out that it will appeal to the male crowd. A few others accused the brand of promoting Nazi propaganda and eugenics.
