Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad controversy: 5 things to know

5. How does the public feel about AE’s Sweeney ad campaign? 

In mid-July, before American Eagle launched its ad campaign featuring Sweeney, the company’s stock sold at $10.06 per share. Following uproar over Sweeney’s provocative ad, the price per share rose slightly to $13.28 on Aug. 4. American Eagle released a statement standing by its campaign, and President Donald Trump posted a statement on Truth Social praising the ad as the “HOTTEST” out there, insisting that the jeans were “flying off the shelves.”

On Wednesday, the stock price reached $13.52, the highest in the past month. It dipped to $12.64 on Thursday. The stock’s one-month low of $9.92 was recorded on July 21, before the launch of the Sweeney denim jeans campaign. 

A poll of 1,635 U.S. adults conducted by The Economist/YouGov from Aug. 9-11 asked respondents whether they thought an image of the ad accompanied by text reading “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” was “clever,” “offensive” or “neither.” Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed said they viewed the ad as “clever,” while 12% characterized it as “offensive.” A plurality of respondents (40%) believed that the ad was neither clever nor offensive. 

Data shared by Retail Brew found that foot traffic at American Eagle stores compared to this time last year had decreased following the launch of the ad campaign. The week of July 27 saw foot traffic at American Eagle stores decline by 3.9% compared to the same time in 2024, while foot traffic at American Eagle stores dropped by 8.96% during the week of Aug. 3 compared to the same time last year.

By contrast, American Eagle stores saw an increase in foot traffic compared to last year during the previous two weeks.

Conversely, AdWeek reported that traffic to American Eagle’s website has increased compared to this time last year. The highest spike occurred on July 28, which saw 60% more traffic to the retailer’s website than on the same date last year.