Who owns American Eagle? Controversy surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s new jeans ad explained

American actress Sydney Sweeney is currently trending after her new American Eagle advertising campaign drew criticism online. The tagline, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” has sparked a controversy, with social media users claiming it has alleged racial undertones.

As explained by Salon.com, the phrase “great jeans,” which in this case replaces “great genes,” uses a denim pun. However, the latter expression has historically recognized “whiteness.”

Moreover, in one of the ads, Sydney Sweeney, 27, was seen painting over the words “great genes” and turning them into “great jeans.”

Additionally, a few of the ads in the campaign series feature the Euphoria star in risqué poses, including one where she is dressed in a deep-neckline waistcoat and a pair of denim trousers. They have been deemed “tone-deaf” and “suggestive” by internet users, as reported by Yahoo!

“My body’s composition is determined by my genes/ jeans,” Sydney Sweeney is heard saying before the camera shows a closeup of her chest, and she adds, “Hey, eyes up here.”

While the advertising campaign has now stirred up a controversy, it was initially a success when it dropped last weekend.

American Eagle, which is owned by American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO), saw a 12 to 16 percent rise in stock prices and over $200 million in market capitalization, as per bandt.com.au. The parent company is currently led by Jay Schottenstein, who’s also the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AEO.

Notably, the proceeds from Sydney Sweeney’s collaboration with American Eagle for the fall/ winter collection of the limited-edition “Sydney Jeans” will directly go to a domestic violence support nonprofit, Crisis Text Line.

Exploring the ownership history of American Eagle amid Sydney Sweeney’s ad controversy

American Eagle is one of the many brands owned by the American apparel and accessories retailer American Eagle Outfitters Inc. It was founded by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman in 1977 and has ever since been headquartered at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.When AEO (American Eagle Outfitters) first started, it was a part of Retail Ventures Inc.

In 1991, Jay Schottenstein and his father Jerome, who already owned 50% of AEO since 1980, bought the rest of the company from the Silverman family.

Since then, AEO has grown and become known as a specialty retailer. Today, it owns several brands: American Eagle, Aerie, Todd Snyder, and Unsubscribed.

In 1992, Jay Schottenstein became AEO’s CEO, and under his leadership, the company launched its first denim line in 1997 and quickly earned its global standing as a leading denim brand. According to the company’s website, it currently sells over $1 billion in jeans every year.

As for Jay Schottenstein, he is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Over the decades, he has led other US-based retailers such as American Signature Inc., Designer Brands Inc., and Schottenstein Stores Corp. He is also the Chairman of SB360 Capital Partners.

Based in Miami, Florida, Jay is married to Jeanie, and the couple has three children. Together, they founded the charity, Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Foundation, in 1985, and more recently, the AEO Foundation that champions mental health, education, and anti-bias.

The Schottensteins have also donated $2 million to the Ohio State University and award the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Prize in Cardiovascular Sciences annually.

More about the ongoing controversy surrounding Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle

Originally, American Eagle’s latest ad campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney was displayed across AR filters, AI try-ons, and 3D billboards in Times Square in New York City, The Sphere in Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. However, it came under fire after the commercials surfaced online.

For instance, Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel, the author of Cultural Intelligence for Marketers, described the campaign as “one of the most outrageously racist marketing outputs I’ve seen in quite a while.”

“I haven’t been this disgusted since ZARA wrapped corpse-like mannequins in white cloth while thousands of civilians were being bombarded, you know where, in 2023,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post.

According to Dr. Gabriel, the marketing campaign is in sync with “eugenicist fantasies of racial supremacy.” She continues to explain that “great genes” often refers to the European/ white aristocracy, which may be considered as evidence of a “so-called pure” lineage that was “untainted” by non-European ancestry.

“Think a little about the ideological assumptions encoded in the media you consume and what’s actually being sold here. It’s not just selling denim. It’s an ad campaign firmly rooted in the ideology of American whiteness,” Gabriel concluded.

Likewise, Global CMO advisor and inclusive marketing strategist Lola Bakare also took to social media and criticized the American Eagle campaign.

“Did we all forget about WWII. We all get the word play around jeans/genes… I’m surprised to see so many of my colleagues celebrating this without seeing the extremely harmful connotations,” Bakare wrote.

She added, “If Sydney Sweeney has good genes in Magamerica 2025… tell me, pray tell Craig Brommers – who has bad genes? Everyone who doesn’t shop at American Eagle Outfitters Inc.??…or everyone who doesn’t look like Sydney Sweeney?”

Craig Brommers, the Chief Marketing Officer of the brand, called the partnership “the biggest get in the history of our brand,” during a recent interview with Modern Retail.

“We’ve had a lot of success working with multiple talent in one season, so it’s not like that recipe is dead… There are only a few celebrities that have the cachet to be the face of a dual-gender brand, and Sweeney is one of them,” he said.

Brommers added, “When she was into the idea of working with us, that’s when you say, I think this is a special, unique moment, and it needs to feel like that.”

Neither American Eagle nor The White Lotus actress has responded to the controversy, as of writing.

It is noteworthy that Sydney Sweeney has previously faced similar controversies, the most recent being her collaboration with Dr. Squatch to sell her bathwater scented soap in early 2025.