Yes, this Sydney Sweeney x American Eagle campaign is blowing up across media and social media, snagging headlines left and right. Clearly, they didn’t sufficiently test the copy (among other things), and yet their stock price has surged despite the scandal. Which is going to lead some folks to claim all PR is good PR…
That’s a hard no.Â
I can tell you definitively that is never the case, and there will be tangible fallout for AE as a brand. Media attention—even if for the wrong reasons—certainly gets your name out there, but negative debate damages the thing that matters most: positive name recognition.
And while critics will point to the eugenics side of things as the “issue” at play—and don’t get me wrong, it’s a real issue—the whole campaign itself is flawed. No, they didn’t run the copy by the right audiences. They clearly didn’t have a solid (read: diverse) mix of talent in the room when steering the campaign, because how did no one point to the “my genes are blue” bit and the association to Aryanism in this climate?! Or perhaps they didn’t think it’d be a dealbreaker. Either way, it’s poor judgment, or lack thereof, as is often the case in a “campaign-gone-bad” situation. Kendall x Pepsi, anyone?
I think about branding all day long on behalf of my clients, obsessing over the efforts that move the needle and those that miss the mark. Countless hours spent dialoguing around when a brand or their campaign doesn’t go far enough to create, deepen, or prove connection to consumers, and of course the opportunity therein to do better, more, different. So, I can tell you with a degree of confidence that fallout will happen—and soon. Expect a slew of influencer videos speaking their minds or saying they’ll be avoiding AE. And expect female consumers to respond with their wallets in direct accordance with how they feel.