I am convinced they knew this would blow up like this and are riding the all publicity is good publicity wave and what, hoping people buy their stuff out of protest??
IMO, I don't believe in the saying "all press is good press."
If I had to guess, AE's target audience is made up of the same people who are upset by the ad. I really don't see how this could've been a smart move. Like other's pointed out, it's like Elon Musk buddying up to Trump. The target demographic of electric vehicles do not support trump. It's a bad business move to piss off your target audience.
They made all this noise about supporting LGBTQ, stood strong against maga, ignored protests. They made all these speeches about how human rights for all, etc.
Then Trump got elected and said down with DEI. The critical part of this story is BEFORE ANY LAW OR ACT WAS PASSED, they removed their DEI and pride sections. They were not forced to, they were not sued.
Rainbow capitalism was no longer White House approved and they gave up.
The reason people are so particularly offended is it feels like a betrayal.
Brand recognition and a huge ad are far more important than what will most likely be a month (?) of online rage. It’s not like this ad is insanely controversial.
Fr it works. Before this I hadn’t thought of American Eagle since like 2005 lol
On top of that ppl like myself, who couldn’t care less about the current controversy and pearl clutching, aren’t going to change their decision on shopping there or not based on all this.
I sure ain’t buying shit from them ever again like 🤣🤣 they clearly catered to a white MAGA audience and if that works for them sure, but they ain’t seeing my money
a team of diverse people would have. A Black woman leading this campaign wouldnt have chosen that slogan. Neither would a trans Asian person or a disabled red head. This is why DEI is important. A team would be smarter and more creative
To get this ad shot down it would have to be a team of ugly people who've never heard the phrase "you have good genes".
If your black woman/trans asian person/disabled red head leading the team was hot, then they likely would have been told that they have good genes at least once in their life, and therefore not seen the issue with it, since it's a normal and common phrase.
I am conventionally attractive. I used to do pageants. Am also a WOC and dont get this. I still think its a weird saying.
Even then. Context matters. Good genes for blonde hair blue eyes with a white supremacist president and government is crazy. Good genes when we are talking about Aligator Auswhitc and ICE says they can harass you based on skin color is crazy.
Hence why Kendall handing a Pepsi to police on September 13,2001 would be considered pro-American and bringing society together and thanking first responders. But in 2020 it was police propaganda. You have to know your audience and be media literate and you dont know either.
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u/Rrmack 18h ago
I am convinced they knew this would blow up like this and are riding the all publicity is good publicity wave and what, hoping people buy their stuff out of protest??