Updated April 15, 2026, 5:12 a.m. ET
- Sydney Sweeney is starring in a brand new American Eagle marketing campaign.
- Her earlier collab with the model performed on “genes” and “jeans” and sparked backlash – however was additionally essentially the most profitable within the model’s historical past.
- The collaboration donates a portion of each sale to the Crisis Text Line.
It’s time to say howdy to “Syd.”
Months after conversation – and controversy – erupted over Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle jeans ad campaign, the star is again for a brand new summer spin on shorts with the retailer.
“What brand am I wearing?” Sweeney asks within the business, posing in denim shorts in opposition to a blue sky backdrop, whereas smiling and taking part in along with her hair. “Yeah, that one,” she says, because the phrases “SYD FOR SHORT” flash throughout the display screen.
It’s a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fervor around the original jeans campaign, which was “born out of the idea that we wanted to work with the No. 1 It girl on the No. 1 jeans campaign of 2025,” says Craig Brommers, American Eagle’s chief advertising and marketing officer.
Syd exemplifies “the true self, the genuine individual, the extra informal model of that Sydney Sweeney persona,” Brommers says, and the collaboration is a part of a “throughline” that “resonates” with shoppers.
“Our American Eagle customer base really loved the duality” of the “Euphoria” star, 28, Brommers tells USA TODAY. “Yes, there is the actress on the red carpet with box office hits and Emmy-nominated performances on streaming shows. But there’s also this very carefree, casual, real side, the girl-next-door side.”
Sydney Sweeney denims ad sparked backlash – and American Eagle success
Some retailers might need moved on after their first collab generated a lot controversy.
The fall marketing campaign, launched final July, was a play on “genes” and “jeans,” proclaiming that Sweeney “has great jeans.” “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,” Sweeney stated within the business. “My jeans are blue.”
The web pounced. Some stated the business, with a conventionally enticing, white, skinny, blonde girl with blue eyes at its middle, was upholding Sweeney as the wonder normal. Others stated the ad was regressive, highlighting a blonde bombshell and catering to the objectifying male gaze. And some argued out it had references to eugenics, or the idea that some genetic options are superior to others.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance each added commentary. Sweeney “has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there. It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’ Go get ’em Sydney!” Trump posted in August.
At the time, the corporate launched a response that stated, partially, “Great jeans look good on anyone.” And the corporate CEO stated in a Wall Street Journal interview, “We stand behind what we did.”
Now, Brommers reveals simply how thrilled the corporate was with the outcomes. American Eagle Outfitters’ inventory bounce by 22%. “A vast, vast, vast majority of Americans understood that the campaign was about jeans,” Brommers says. “It was one story, her story.”
Sweeney, in a November GQ interview, stated “the reaction definitely was a surprise,” a sentiment she reiterated to People in December, including, “I did it because I love the jeans and love the brand. I don’t support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign. Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren’t true.”
The marketing campaign “certainly drove jeans sales,” Brommers says. “American Eagle has a store in all 50 states and during that campaign, we saw new customer acquisition grow in every single county in America. It is a fact that it was the most successful campaign in the history of the American Eagle brand.”
Brommers says the ad had greater than 55 billion impressions and was “the most talked about advertising campaign of the year, maybe of the decade – sometimes ChatGPT tells me of the century.”
New American Eagle Sydney Sweeney marketing campaign will ‘flip the quantity down’
Given these outcomes, Brommers says American Eagle shoppers have been “clamoring for a new chapter to this partnership,” specializing in the phrase “new.”
“When we thought about what we could do next together, it wasn’t about going backwards – it was about going forward,” Brommers says.
“The world is curious and the world will be talking when we launch the campaign,” Brommers says. “As we learned in the fall campaign, there is noise, but there are also facts as well, and we’re excited to see where this campaign takes our brand.”
The new ad goals to lean into pleasure and away from the earlier marketing campaign, Brommers says, although its language instantly winks on the controversy.
“The real world is very noisy right now, and sometimes you want to turn the volume down, just be your true self and then live your life in American Eagle jean shorts in the summer,” Brommers says.
What precisely is that “noise”? “It could mean anything,” Brommers says, “It could be geopolitical. It could be the harsh realities of social media. Sometimes it could be pain that someone is going through in their own life, their mental health, whatever it is. I think that it’s not for me to define someone’s noise.
“This concept that your self and it is best to embrace your self and your beliefs and get on the market and dwell your personal life is a message that has been with the American Eagle model for a few years now. … In a very noisy second out in the actual world, we hope that this marketing campaign brings that hope to to our viewers.”
Sydney Sweeney ‘very involved’ in American Eagle campaign
Brommers seems to suggest this won’t be the last collaboration between American Eagle and their “It lady.”
And for those wondering, Sweeney is “very concerned,” Brommers says.
“She’s in there choosing photographs and choosing angles and choosing story strains that she likes essentially the most. So this isn’t a few payday. This is just not about somebody displaying up and cashing a examine,” Brommers says. “This partnership is deep. It is genuine, and it is somebody who’s a really savvy enterprise individual and really understanding about her model.”
The new products, like the original, support the Crisis Text Line, which offers free, 24/7, confidential mental health support to anyone in need; 100% of the net proceeds from the shorts and jeans will be donated the nonprofit. The limited-edition denim styles feature a butterfly motif in honor of the philanthropic partnership, a cause close to Sweeney’s heart.
“Being within the Sydney Sweeney enterprise has been nice for us,” Brommers says, adding Sweeney “will all the time drive dialog” in a “partnership [that] has been so culturally defining.”
Contributing: Anna Kaufman, Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY
