American Eagle Stock Soars as They Refuse to Apologize for Sydney Sweeney “Good Jeans” Ad

BY ANIL ANWAR | Editor-In-Chief

NEW YORK, August 4, 2025 — In an era when most corporations trip over themselves to appease the outrage industrial complex, American Eagle Outfitters has chosen a different path—and it’s paying off big time.

The popular apparel brand is seeing its stock soar more than 17% after it refused to apologize for a cheeky new denim ad featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, despite fierce backlash from progressive activists accusing it of promoting “eugenics-coded” messaging. Investors clearly see what many Americans see: a company finally standing up to the perpetually offended.

Sydney Sweeney in her American Eagle campaign.

The now-viral “Good Jeans” campaign opens with Sweeney—blonde, blue-eyed, and unapologetically American— listing traits she’s inherited from her family. “My hair is blonde. My eyes are blue. My jeans are American Eagle,” she says, playing off the pun between “jeans” and “genes.”

Since launch, the retailer’s stock has jumped 10–11%, injecting roughly $200–400 million in valuation—a rare win in an otherwise rocky financial year The Sun. And after Donald Trump publicly applauded the ad on Truth Social—calling it the “HOTTEST” and praising Sweeney’s Republican affiliation—the shares soared nearly 17–18%, pushing the company's market cap toward $2.1–2.2 billion 

Cue the leftist outrage machine. Twitter commentators and liberal bloggers immediately claimed the ad was “racist,” “coded,” or somehow aligned with white nationalism—despite the fact that the message was literally about denim.

But instead of issuing a groveling apology like most modern corporations, American Eagle issued a statement reaffirming the campaign’s intent: “It’s about jeans. It’s about confidence. That’s it.”

The result? Investors responded to the backbone. American Eagle shares jumped 10% within 48 hours of the controversy breaking, with an additional spike after President Donald Trump praised the ad on Truth Social, calling it “fantastic” and dubbing Sweeney “a patriotic beauty with real style.”

Trump’s statement supercharged the stock even further, pushing it up nearly 18% in total, adding hundreds of millions to the retailer’s market cap. In short: doing the right thing made them richer.

What many in the media won’t admit: Sydney Sweeney registered as a Republican and never shy about her family’s traditional values. She’s one of the few Hollywood stars not afraid to stay grounded and neutral, even as progressive Hollywood circles pressure her to toe the party line.

The attempt to paint her as some kind of symbol of racial supremacy is not just absurd—it’s a dangerous example of how far the modern Left will go to destroy someone for simply representing traditional American beauty and values.

This isn’t just about an ad. It’s about what Americans are willing to tolerate—and what they’re ready to reward. Corporations have learned the hard way that going woke means going broke. But staying true to your brand, ignoring activist noise, and focusing on your customer base? That’s how you win.