American Eagle CEO defends Sydney Sweeney jeans ad amid controversy

American Eagle Outfitters CEO Jay Schottenstein said in an interview published Monday that the company stands behind its Sydney Sweeney jeans ad campaign, which sparked controversy with some liberal commentators. 

“You can’t run from fear,” Schottenstein told The Wall Street Journal. “We stand behind what we did.”

He said that he told executives at the company to remain calm and not comment on the campaign, which prompted some backlash on the left. Some liberal media critics argued that Sweeney’s American Eagle jeans ad promoted racist and “regressive” themes.

The CEO assigned a team to monitor social media reaction and survey customers, according to the WSJ. American Eagle kept the ads in place, which gained attention for their “great jeans” wordplay.

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People walk past the entrance of American Eagle store on August 14, 2025, in Hong Kong, China.  (Sawayasu Tsuji/Getty Images / Getty Images)

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

The Journal reported that Schottenstein, who is Orthodox Jewish, was stunned by some claiming the ad promoted eugenics. 

On ABC’s “GMA First Look” on July 29, the show featured a clip of Kean University professor Robin Landa linking Sweeney’s ads to the eugenics movement.

“The pun ‘good jeans’ activates troubling historical associations for this country. The American eugenics movement, in its prime between 1900 and 1940, weaponized the idea of good genes just to justify White supremacism,” the professor said.

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A window display of actress Sydney Sweeney is seen in the window of an American Eagle store on August 1, 2025, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Schottenstein told the WSJ “we never would’ve done it” if he or his team felt the ad was offensive.

American Eagle’s stock jumped 25% earlier this month after its second-quarter earnings report, in which the retailer highlighted the success of Sweeney’s campaign. 

“The iconic fall denim campaign with Sydney Sweeney affirms we are the American jeans brand,” Schottenstein said during the early September earnings call. “We saw record-breaking new customer acquisition and brand awareness cutting across age demographics and genders.”

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Sydney Sweeney at Lionsgate’s “Americana” Los Angeles Special Screening held at Desert 5 Spot on August 3, 2025, in Los Angeles, California.  (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images / Getty Images)

American Eagle also acknowledged the success of its recently launched marketing partnership with NFL player Travis Kelce, who is engaged to singer Taylor Swift. The company announced last week it was launching a limited-edition design collaboration with Kelce’s lifestyle brand, Tru Kolors.

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Fox News’ Gabriel Hays and Sophia Compton contributed to this report.