American Eagle vs GAP | Natalie O'Dell

Sydney Sweeney is a well-known actress, most notably for her portrayal of Cassie Howard in the HBO series Euphoria. Recently, this actress has become a meme on social media and found herself in a controversy due to an ad she starred in for American Eagle. The main reason Sweeney has received so much backlash is because of the sexualization in the ad by showing certain positions and parts of her body that are not appropriate. 

Even though I am not too deep into what has occurred, I find this advertisement out of touch, particularly looking back at older examples of the sexualization of women in the media. Many others share this sentiment, feeling that she does not fully grasp the significance of an advertisement like this, while others believe the wording of the ad is entirely ridiculous. Overall, this advertisement has brought bad press to Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle. For Sydney Sweeney, this is obviously not enjoyable, but all press is good press, right? However, this is not at all beneficial for the clothing brand behind this ad. According to an article posted on FORTUNE, written by Andrew Adam Newman, the foot traffic American Eagle once experienced has dropped significantly after the ad was released to the public. This has actually led the American Eagle marketing team to remove the original advertisement, but they have added additional ads in its place. I believe the marketing team should not have added the other ads to its profile, mostly because the issue has not been addressed yet. 

For those who are more focused on the meme part of it, a statement from either Sydney Sweeney or American Eagle may not be as important. However, those focused on the sexualization and the possible repercussions of this ad that may influence other young women may want a statement to address this controversy. Not only did this ad come off as out of touch, but it also came off as misplaced in a way that there does not seem to be an exact target audience. Personally, I cannot figure out who the target audience is for this ad. Many people say it’s targeted towards men, but men are not going to buy women's jeans. And this type of hyper sexualized advertisement does not seem to please their women audience; it did not make me want to go and buy American Eagle jeans, nor any other woman I have spoken to about the ad, so I do not understand the purpose of this ad. In contrast, the girl group, Katseye, partnered with GAP to promote their jeans/denim as well. In comparison to Sydney Sweeney’s ad, Katseye’s delivery of the GAP promotion has been preferred significantly. Many people have claimed on social media that it seems more connected to their image as a girl group while avoiding certain topics that could potentially offend viewers. They did this by using similar marketing techniques (dancing/creating their own choreography) while also giving reasons why they believe denim is a staple and fashion. When audiences compared these two different ads, it was clear who won the supposed “fight” between the two companies and celebrities.