Months After Controversy, American Eagle Brings Sydney Sweeney Back for New Ad

The Euphoria star’s new campaign shows the actress wearing denim shorts as the new season comes around. The words “SYD FOR SHORT” play across the screen as a double entendre. The new ad is looking to be a fresh, light, and airy take compared to the 2025 rollout, which didn’t play too well with critics.

The new campaign 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 marketing officer.

Ad Drew Headlines, and Backlash

The fall campaign, released last July, showed Sweeney in a new collection by American Eagle, and its script had a play on words with “genes” and “jeans,” making the actress tell the world she “has great jeans.”

“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,” Sweeney said in the commercial. “My jeans are blue.”

Critiques flooded all over social media, panning the ad, citing a possible promotion of eugenics. Some online also critiqued Sweeney’s perceived politics—although she hasn’t directly addressed the political sphere herself.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, American Eagle CEO Jay Schottenstein said: “We stand behind what we did.” President Trump touted the campaign in a post on Truth Social: “Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there.”