{"id":119957,"date":"2025-08-05T04:31:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T04:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/119957\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T04:31:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T04:31:09","slug":"sydney-sweeneys-american-eagle-ads-attracts-trump-and-knockoff-cries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/119957\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle Ads Attracts Trump and Knockoff Cries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe controversy swirling around American Eagle Outfitters<\/a>\u2018 \u201cGreat Jeans\u201d campaign with Sydney Sweeney<\/a> does not appear to be subsiding.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor more than 10 days, the ads featuring \u201cThe White Lotus\u201d actress have been garnering news story and social media backlash. U.S. President Donald Trump stoked the situation over the weekend, and David Lipman, a veteran creative director in advertising, suggested Monday that the American Eagle campaign knocked off one that he did with Georgia May Jagger<\/a> for Hudson Jeans in 2009.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter learning from a reporter about Sweeney\u2019s voter status, Trump weighed in on Truth Social with \u201c#SydneySweeney<\/a>, a registered Republican, has the HOTTEST ad out there. It\u2019s for American Eagle, and the jeans are \u2018flying of the shelves.\u2019 Go get \u2018em Sydney.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA media request to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics asking whether Trump\u2019s post was in accordance with its rule on \u201cEndorsing Organizations, Products or Persons\u201d was not immediately acknowledged Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmerican Eagle\u2019s stock increased by 23.5 percent, closing at $13.28 Monday. That was a considerable gain compared to Friday, when it closed down by less than 1 percent.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, the 27-year-old Sweeney has boosted her Instagram following to 25.2 million from 25 million, since Friday night. And a video post of her from the American Eagle campaign now has 1.3 million likes versus 36,600, and 57,600 comments up from 5,483 in that same frame. <\/p>\n

\n\tSusan Scafidi, founder and director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University, said, \u201cAssuming that the Sydney B. Sweeney, [who is] registered as a Republican in Florida is indeed the same person, party operatives are probably already imagining a red, white and blue \u2018genes\u2019 campaign ad.\u201c<\/p>\n

\n\tNoting how\u00a0\u201cAmerican politics are so divided that most brands would benefit from steering clear of blatant political partisanship,\u201d University of Illinois Chicago professor Adam Duhachek speculated that American Eagle did not set out to make a political ad, since much of the response would seem very hard to anticipate. He said, \u201cFrom a pure engagement standpoint, the campaign has been wildly successful, drawing millions of views and their stock is up more than 20 percent today. Very few campaigns in recent memory have produced that level of lift. The long-term impact is more difficult to assess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRepresentatives at American Eagle and at its outside public relations firm Shadow did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon about Trump\u2019s claim that the jeans were \u201cflying off the shelves.\u201d They also did not respond about an inquiry suggesting <\/strong>the Sweeney campaign knocks off the 2009 Hudson Jeans one.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn that one, the then-teenage Jagger wears only a lace bra and underwear, as she lies back slithering on a pair of tight jeans. It closes with her saying, \u201cMy mom is Jerry Hall<\/a>. My dad is Mick Jagger. Some people say I have great genes.\u201d Lipman, the ad\u2019s creator, flagged the similarities to WWD on Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tLipman said the 30-second Hudson Jeans clip was only accessible for one week, but it was said to have racked up more than 40 million views. While Lipman said he has heard from multiple people including coworkers from that time, who suggested American Eagle \u201cplagiarized\u201d his work and who have encouraged him to hire a lawyer, he held off on speaking with the media until Monday, namely because he is on vacation.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGeorgia May Jagger<\/a> in the 2009 Hudson Jean campaign.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMario Sorrenti<\/p>\n

\n\tRecalling how much of the fanfare about the Hudson Jeans creative was about Jagger being topless and for her being Mick Jagger\u2019s daughter, Lipman said that \u201cnoise also turned the brand on, but not so much over the controversy.\u201d He said, \u201cThe brand tripled in revenue from the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2013, Fireman Capital Partners, the investment firm started by Reebok\u2019s founder Paul Fireman, sold Hudson Clothing for $97.6 million to Joe\u2019s Jeans, which was more than triple its initial $30 million investment in 2009. Joe\u2019s Jeans is now owned by WHP Global. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe photographer Mario Sorrenti shot Jagger for the campaign. He could not be reached for comment Monday, nor could Jagger. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPeter Kim, (who founded Hudson Jeans in 2002), was the CEO at the time. Of course, nobody remembers it better than me because I masterminded it and wrote the line, \u2018My mom is Jerry Hall<\/a>. My dad is Mick Jagger. Some people say I have great genes,’\u201d Lipman said. <\/p>\n

\n\tKim, who is now founder and chief executive officer of the Golden Circle Group, said Monday, \u201cMy initial thought was \u2018it looked like they ripped us off from back in the day.’\u201d He said he heard a lot about the similarities over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\n\tSuggesting that the new Sweeney campaign is the essence of what he did with Hudson Jeans, Lipton said he plans to speak with his attorneys when he returns from vacation. \u201cI\u2019m very, very upset by it, needless to say,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tLipman said after seeing a video of Sweeney in the window of the American Eagle store in downtown Manhattan, he sent it to his assistant of many years and asked, \u201cDoes this remind you of anything?\u201d Lipman claimed that he immediately suggested that America Eagle had \u201cripped off\u201d the Hudson Jeans campaign with Jagger. \u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s an ex-employee that works at American Eagle [now.] It\u2019s not easy to find this video on the internet. We did that on purpose to be cool. The whole idea was to create this demand and then to take it all away,\u201d Lipman said. \u201dWe don\u2019t do that anymore [in advertising,] unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLipman said he remembered watching the number of views of the clip tick up on YouTube, despite the fact that the media buy did not include $1 that was spent on digital media. \u201cYes, we ran an ad in Vogue and had billboards and stuff. But we didn\u2019t spend any money on digital and it went viral,\u201d Lipman said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Hudson Jeans \u201cgenes\u201d reference was \u201cin better taste \u2014 for sure\u201d compared to Sweeney\u2019s \u201cgreat jean\u201d tag line for American Eagle, according to Lipman. He said, \u201cOurs was about genetics, as in Mom and Dad, and where I come from. I will say that American Eagle\u2019s response [to the controversy] was justified and they were proper to the public. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s such a big deal, as to what the other side of the conversation is saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAllowing that the Sweeney commercial is \u201cvery effective,\u201d Lipman said, \u201cIt\u2019s derivative of what I did. It\u2019s not original. I think the world should know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReferring to the initial controversy, Drexel University professor Joseph Hancock said good or bad publicity is about creating ties to sell more goods. He said, \u201cHave we all forgotten Abercrombie & Fitch\u2019s ideology of making \u2018whiteness\u2019 and hot bodies a part of the jeans market? It\u2019s history. Sex sells. When it comes to jeans, companies create controversy because jeans are so basic. It\u2019s necessary to contextualize the product to compete in the global market place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tTo that point, Hudson Jeans\u2019 2009 campaign with the baby-faced adolescent Jagger was compared by some to Calvin Klein\u2019s controversial campaign with Brooke Shields in 1981.<\/p>\n

\n\tScafidi said AEO\u2019s \u201crather slow response strategically kept its name in the news, and then threaded the needle between progressive outrage and right-wing defense of the model and mockery of the left.\u201d She said, \u201cBy refocusing on the product \u2014 the jeans \u2014 and implicitly claiming that its reuse of an old pun is unworthy of widespread cultural analysis rather than either apologizing for or defending its ad, AE chose to appeal to the many, who are tired of extreme partisan politics.\u201c<\/p>\n