The stock price for the American clothing and accessories retail company American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. rose nearly 40 per cent yesterday, 4 September. The AE stock began trading at $13.62 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, and ended the session trading at $18.79 a share, an increase of 37.96 per cent in a single day.
The catalyst for the rise in valuation was obvious: company CEO Jay L Schottenstein stated that Q2 sales generated by the celebrity ad campaigns with actress Sydney Sweeney and American football player (and fiancé of pop star Taylor Swift) Travis Kelce have ‘exceeded expectations’.
Evan on X (formerly Twitter): “American Eagle is up 25% in after hours following its earningsAmerican Eagle $AEO just said its partnership with Sydney Sweeney has been its “best” advertising campaign to date – CNBC pic.twitter.com/oclXyXU9Pj / X”
American Eagle is up 25% in after hours following its earningsAmerican Eagle $AEO just said its partnership with Sydney Sweeney has been its “best” advertising campaign to date – CNBC pic.twitter.com/oclXyXU9Pj
The exact source of this statement is unclear, but it has been reported by major news outlets such as the New York Post and the BBC.
Of the two celebrity partnerships, the one with Sweeney has received the most attention by far.
Progressive influencers and academics have slammed the Euphoria star’s ad campaign as ‘insensitive’ and ‘racist’, while some even went as far as calling it ‘Nazi propaganda’. They took particular umbrage with the pun ‘Sydney Sweeney has great genes/jeans’, claiming that this language is reminiscent of the eugenics movement of the early 20th century.
Amidst the controversy, it was also revealed that Sweeney is registered to vote as a Republican in the state of Florida—the actress never publicly disputed that information.
At the time of the Sydney Sweeney ad’s release, even ‘marketing experts’ at universities went on record to brand it a faux pas and lament the lack of diversity in the campaign. Those who were hoping that this revelation and the ‘woke’ backlash would hurt American Eagle’s bottom line and thus would have to be forced to pull the campaign now have to face the exact opposite in reality.
American Eagle already released its Q2 2025 earnings call on 3 September. While they beat expectations on operating income, the stock price only rose about 1 per cent that day. However, the Sydney Sweeney ad campaign only started mid-July, only a few weeks before the end of the quarter on 2 August for AE Outfitter. Thus, its impact is not fully captured in the Q2 earnings call—that is why the stock went on a crazy rally after word came of its outstanding success from the CEO the day after the call’s release.
American Eagle’s current market cap is around $3.26 billion—and is expected to rise even further based on pre-market trading today. Meanwhile, Sydney Sweeney has already starred in two additional ad campaigns for major brands, the ice cream company Baskin-Robbins and the designer footwear and accessories retailer Jimmy Choo.
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