Leeds1888 TLDR
American Eagle shares jumped 24%, the biggest single-day gain since 2000, after Donald Trump praised the Sydney Sweeney ad.
Foot traffic fell 9% in the same week. Sales did not rise despite record online visits.
Social posts were 63.7% favorable on TikTok and X, yet the campaign still attracted strong cultural backlash.
Big Picture
The “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” campaign was meant to sell denim. Instead, it became a flashpoint in America’s culture war and a sudden financial event.
Within 24 hours of Donald Trump posting his approval, American Eagle’s stock price surged 24%. That is the sharpest single-day rise the company has seen in over two decades.
However, the real economy told a different story. Website traffic was up more than 60% year-on-year during the campaign, but foot traffic to stores dropped by almost 9%.
Sales stayed flat and the brand’s market share did not move.
This proves that attention can move markets without moving consumers.
The campaign is a clear case of how advertising can turn into a financial asset.
Once social buzz intersects with political endorsement, a brand can find itself at the centre of a market frenzy, even if the product impact is zero.
Market Signals
Box Office / Retail Signal
Stock rose 24% after the Trump endorsement, reversing none of the year’s earlier decline.
Website traffic surged over 60% year-on-year but sales and market share did not change.
Deal Flow / Brand Strategy
This was reportedly the most expensive American Eagle campaign to date. The brand added diverse models and charitable tie-ins after the uproar.
Big Moves
The “good jeans/genes” pun took over TikTok. Sorority recruitment videos and political memes drove millions of views.
People called the pun racist, and, of course, there was a counter noise too.
Signal vs Noise: The Meme-Stock Feedback Loop
This campaign shows how an ad can evolve into a stock-trading event.
The ad launches.
A political or cultural figure amplifies it.
Retail investors notice the attention and start buying shares.
The media covers the stock movement, creating even more buzz.
The signal: the price surge was driven by narrative speed and meme culture, not fundamentals.
The noise: the campaign failed to convert attention into measurable sales.
The Leeds Lens
We are entering an era where ads are judged not only by how many people see them but also by what they do to a company’s market value.
A single social post from a high-profile political figure can change the financial outcome of a campaign overnight.
This is both powerful and dangerous.
The short-term stock gains can look like a win, but they can also hide brand damage.
In this case, store visits fell, sales stayed flat, and the culture-war narrative risked alienating a key demographic.
The real success metric for any brand is not the size of the headline today.
It is whether consumers are still willing to buy from you tomorrow.
Pop Culture Pulse
Sorority videos on TikTok used the “good jeans/genes” phrase as both parody and protest during recruitment season.
The ad became a political shorthand. Trump supporters treated it as a cultural win. Progressives treated it as proof of brand misalignment.
What to Watch / Read / Hear
Must-watch: "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans" on American Eagle YouTube Channel
Read: American Marketing Association has published The Best Advertisements of All Time: Top 19 Iconic Campaigns Across Media. It is a very interesting compilation of ads that you will love.
Listen: Legendary Indian ad-maker Piyush Pandey’s podcast, who reveals stories around some of the greatest ads in the Indian market.
From the Archives
In 2017, Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner protest ad became one of the most talked-about campaigns of the decade. It also became one of the most damaging.
Public backlash forced Pepsi to pull the ad within 48 hours, and the company’s brand favourability dropped for months.
The American Eagle episode is a modern echo.
High attention can harm brand equity if it is not connected to genuine consumer value.