Denim marketing
In Spring of 2025 the brand American Eagle released an ad campaign featuring the popular actress, Sydney Sweeny. The main tagline was: “Sydney Sweeny has great jeans.”
“Jeans” has the same pronunciation as “Genes” (DNA from your parents = 遺伝子)
How did people react?
Some people thought it was a clever pun.
pun = joke by using similar sounding words or different meanings of a word
e.g. Why did the bicycle fall over?
Because it was two tired
Some people were furious because it’s a slim, blonde, white, blue-eyed actress. This was the ideal image of Hitler’s Germany
What did Donald Trump say about the ad?
Trump posted on social media:
“It’s the hottest ad out there”
“The jeans are flying off the shelves”
….and he spelled her name wrong
People also think it’s because Trump found out the actress is a Republican
Do you think American Eagle’s sales rose or fell after this ad? Do you think their stock price rose or fell?
The stock price rose by about 34% after the controversy. Wall Street thought it was good advertising for the brand which immediately became more famous.
American Eagle announced they got 1 million new customers after the ad
The Sydney Sweeny brand jeans sold out in a week. In some stores it was one day.
Men and women’s denim sales rose by double digits
Diesel
Diesel was an extremely popular denim brand in the 90’s. They targeted people in their 20’s and early 30’s who loved music festivals and clubbing.
However, by 2015 they failed to target younger audiences. Their core customers were older and buying fewer pairs of jeans and the US company went bankrupt in 2019
In 2020 a new Creative Director, Glenn Martin, was hired with the goal of making the brand popular with Gen Z.
How should he achieve his goal?
What should they focus on in their advertising?
Martens introduced these ideas:
Grunge fashion: Ripped denim with unique designs
Different materials
Sexy advertisements
Diesel introduced a line of “Recycled Denim” clothes that are made from recycled denim, scraps from other designs and are washed with less water and chemicals than their usual jeans.
By using recycled denim, each pair of jeans was slightly different. Many used “rips” which let Gen Z feel: “It’s OK to go drinking in these jeans” because it’s OK to fall over or spill drinks on this.
They use the phrase trompe l’oeil “tromp loy,” a French phrase meaning “tricks the eye,” for clothes that look like denim but are actually made from other materials (cotton, leather, khakis). The Jacket in the middle isn’t made from Denim.
Result:
Many celebrities started wearing Diesel again and Tiktokers would make unboxing videos of themselves opening new clothes with unique designs from the brand.
Gap
Gap released a line of “90’s baggy jeans” as they believe the trend is making a comeback.
Troye Sivian, an Australian singer, made a music video using a Dutch dance group. Later Gap paid everyone to remake the video with everyone wearing Gap clothes.
Who is the target of this commercial?
Will it be successful?
On youtube the original music video had over 50 million views. Gap’s commercial only had 1.7 million views but it was also shown on TV
The jeans have been very popular party because of the number of celebrities and influencers who have been wearing them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/business/american-eagle-sydney-sweeney-ad-earnings.html