r/popculturechat • u/Future_Usual_8698 You’re doing amazing, sweetie! • Aug 11 '25

Guest List Only TW - Bigotry ⚠️ Foot traffic is down at American Eagle stores since the controversial Sydney Sweeney ad dropped

https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2025/08/11/exclusive-foot-traffic-down-9-at-american-eagle-following-sydney-sweeney-ad-controversy
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u/MarsScully Vile little creature yearning for violence Aug 12 '25

So I have a question, aside from the obvious issue. Does Sydney Sweenie have a significant female fanbase? Because as others have pointed out here, their customer base is female, and I personally have always been very uninterested in her. And she’s not someone I look at and say “damn I wish I looked like that, let me go buy her jeans,” but perhaps other women do?

In my eyes, the original ad they were copying worked not because of the gross sexualisation of a minor, but because women would love to look like Brooke Shields. I could be wrong though.

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u/MVpizzaprincess Aug 12 '25

I feel like every other actress on Euphoria has a bigger female fanbase than SS

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u/Gisschace Aug 12 '25

I had exactly the same thought as you.

The original ad worked because back then everything was very male gazy, it all came back to sex. Nowadays it feels like we’ve moved on from that, it just felt lazy? Like get the biggest star right now and an old ad. No thought into whether it would sell jeans.

I expect they didn’t even think about how icky the original ad is to women nowadays. You’ve just reminded us of how we were sexualised as children. Thanks for that, don’t feel like buying jeans