Foot traffic at American Eagle stores dropped 9 percent two weeks after Sydney Sweeney starred in a controversial ad campaign for the retailer, according to a report.
American Eagle tapped the 27-year-old Euphoria and Madame Web actress to star in their campaign, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” last month, sparking widespread backlash as critics claimed it peddled eugenic ideals due to its wordplay on “jeans” and “genes.”
Further critics said that the ad contains racist messaging and those claims were met with fierce outrage from the right, as Vice President JD Vance, Senator Ted Cruz and even President Donald Trump jumped to Sweeney’s defense.
In the wake of the controversy, data from Pass_by obtained by Retail Brew revealed a fall in foot traffic in the weeks after the ad’s release compared to the same time last year.
During the first full week after American Eagle’s campaign premiered on July 23, stores saw 3.9 percent less foot traffic compared to a year ago, according to Pass_by.
The week spanning from August 3 to August 9 took the biggest hit, according to the report, which said foot traffic dropped 9 percent in a year.
Some of American Eagle’s direct competitors also saw traffic declines that week. Abercrombie & Fitch saw 3.3 percent less foot traffic, H&M saw 4.9 percent less and Urban Outfitters had 2.7 percent less, all compared to foot traffic the previous year, according to Pass_by.
It was not immediately clear how many American Eagle storefronts Pass_by was examining when collecting the data or if the retailer’s online sales were noticeably impacted by the controversial ad.
American Eagle did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment about its foot traffic and online sales.
The ad, launched late last month, sparked debate over race and beauty standards in the US as it features the petite, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed actress suggestively staring into the camera while discussing her genes – or rather – jeans.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,” Sweeney says in the ad.
“My jeans are blue,” she says, before a narrator adds: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
The campaign became even more controversial after public voting records revealed Sweeney is a registered voter with the Republican Party in Florida.
Hours after learning of Sweeney’s political leanings, Trump jumped onto his Truth Social platform to defend the actress against the so-called “woke” agenda.
Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there,” he wrote. “It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’”
Fox News, which helped manufacture the controversy by repeatedly suggesting with little evidence that liberals were “melting down” over the ad, spent more time defending the ad than discussing newsworthy topics, such as the Epstein files.
The network spent nearly five hours of airtime discussing the advertisement since July 28, liberal media watchdog Media Matters reported last week. However, the right-leaning news network has only spent a measly 40 minutes covering the Epstein files, according to the report.
Analysis of social media data by The New York Times revealed that conservative influencers with large followings were chiefly responsible for creating the outrage cycle — not liberals.
Even still, Fox remained focused on Sweeney as recently as Friday, when it aired a segment claiming liberals were also having a meltdown over a month-old ice cream ad featuring the actress.
Sweeney herself has not commented on the controversy. In a previous statement, American Eagle defended their ad, writing, “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans.”
“We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,” the statement added. “Great jeans look good on everyone.”
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