American Eagle’s new campaign, in partnership with actor Sydney Sweeney, has drawn criticism for allegedly being tone-deaf.

The brand recently debuted its new marketing campaign, with the Euphoria star as its focal point. The tag line for the jeans rollout is, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.” Although the spelling is correct, some people felt that the phrase was a subliminal diss praising those from white lineage rather than a simple play on words.

What was the criticism surrounding the ad?

The claims no longer became outrageous when American Eagle published its third post, the very same day, which was a video advertisement featuring Sweeney. In the clip, the 27-year-old walks up to a building with a large picture of herself for the new campaign collaboration, wearing a denim jacket and pants, and holding an orange Home Depot painting bucket and a seam roller. She uses the tool to roll over the ad as if she’s smoothing it, when you see the tagline in white ending with the word “genes” crossed out and “jeans” underneath it. The camera eventually zooms in on the x’d out word.  

“Posters up. Secrets out: Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” the caption read.

Social media is divided over campaign’s tone

Those who felt the campaign was a dig and not socially conscious voiced their opinions in the post’s comment section.

“This is what happens when you have no ppl of color in a room. Particularly in a time like this,” one person wrote. “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. I’d expect this from Abercrombie… but not yall.”

“Never shopping at AE again,” someone else wrote.

“Who are the creatives behind this ad?” another person questioned.

While some were upset, others thought it was a witty campaign. 

“I don’t get why people don’t like this? It’s cute and clever,” a commenter said.

“Y’all are so whiny. She’s just a pretty girl wearing jeans. Get a life 😂😂,” a person wrote.

Despite the feedback, American Eagle continued to upload Sweeney’s content to its Instagram profile until two days ago. 

American Eagle shares jumped up to 16%, driven not by earnings or financial metrics but by meme-stock dynamics due to the controversy, according to Salon. Fueled by retail traders on Reddit and Stocktwits, the enterprise’s viral momentum benefited them. 

The retail chain hasn’t issued a statement in response to the backlash it has received.