By Tom Ozimek
Contributing Writer
President Donald Trump is praising American Eagle’s latest advertising campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney while blasting what he calls “woke” marketing missteps by other brands, such as Bud Light and Jaguar, that he says have alienated customers and hurt sales.
Speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania over the weekend, and later in a post on his Truth Social account on Monday, Trump lauded the Sweeney campaign after being asked about reports that the actress had registered as a Republican last year.
The Guardian reported that public records show Sweeney registered with the GOP in Florida in June 2023. The actress has not confirmed the report.
“She’s a registered Republican?” Trump asked, appearing surprised. “Oh. Now I love her ad! Is that right? Sydney Sweeney. … You’d be surprised how many people are Republicans. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.”
The ad campaign, launched July 23 with the tagline “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” stirred debate over its portrayal of beauty standards and alleged racial undertones. A teaser video playing on “genes” versus “jeans” drew particular criticism, with detractors calling it racially insensitive or even alluding to eugenics.
American Eagle responded publicly on Saturday, posting on Instagram: “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
The company’s stock price has risen modestly since the partnership was announced. American Eagle’s marketing chief previously said the campaign was intended to be “clever, even provocative,” and designed to “push buttons.”
In his Truth Social post on Monday, Trump contrasted American Eagle’s success with what he described as corporate blunders at Jaguar and Bud Light.
“On the other side of the ledger, Jaguar did a stupid, and seriously WOKE advertisement, THAT IS A TOTAL DISASTER! The CEO just resigned in disgrace, and the company is in absolute turmoil,” Trump wrote. “Who wants to buy a Jaguar after looking at that disgraceful ad. Shouldn’t they have learned a lesson from Bud Lite, which went woke and essentially destroyed, in a short campaign, the company. The market cap destruction has been unprecedented, with BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SO FOOLISHLY LOST.”
Jaguar, which in November 2024 unveiled a rebranding campaign featuring bold colors and abstract slogans like “create exuberant” and “delete ordinary,” has faced mixed reactions online, with some critics likening the rollout to that of Bud Light’s 2023 controversial partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The automaker has said its rebrand embodies “exuberant modernism” and signals its pivot to a fully electric luxury lineup. Jaguar has described the campaign as a bold step into a “new era” for the brand.
Bud Light, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, faced intense backlash and falling sales after its 2023 campaign featuring Mulvaney, which Trump and other conservatives have cited as a cautionary tale of “woke” marketing.
Vice President JD Vance, speaking on the “Ruthless” podcast, suggested that the most vocal critics of the American Eagle campaign were overreacting. He said that Democrats risk alienating voters by attacking what he described as “a normal all-American beautiful girl doing a normal jeans ad.”
Sweeney herself has not publicly commented on the reactions to the ad.
