American Eagle Sydney Sweeney campaign shows disconnect between Wall Street and female shoppers

Men are still running Wall Street and they've never been more disconnected from female consumers. So says Kyle Udelson, Strategic Partnerships at Klaviyo.

She made the claim in response to American Eagle Outfitters launching its Fall ‘25 campaign, headlined by actress Sydney Sweeney. The campaign, Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans, is pitched as “a return to essential denim dressing and a celebration of what the beloved brand does best: making customers look and feel good in AE jeans”.

The roll-out will be supported by 3D billboards where Sweeney will interact directly with passersby, a Snapchat lens where she speaks with Snapchatters and AI enabled try-on technology.

In a LinkedIn post, Udelson noted that there was a 18% intraday surge after launching the campaign and a roughly 15% over the week bump. “This means Wall Street saw the announcement, believed it would drive consumer spending and investor demand sharply increased.”

She added: “So who are these investors on Wall Street? Still, in 2025, majority men: 62% of all investors are men. If we narrow it further to professional stock traders, the gender gap widens: approximately 79% are male. It gets worse: a survey of nearly 900 securities professionals found the typical broker is male and around age 44, holding either a Series 7 license and working for a regional or wirehouse firm. Is this the audience we're using as a barometer for whether or not we make smart Gen-Z marketing decisions?”

Udelson concluded: “American Eagle decides to work with Sydney Sweeney, without polling enough female consumers or their 80% female employee base. It fails to test the messaging that reinforces the impossibly lucky genetic gifts of Sydney Sweeney (no pair of jeans will give you her body).”

“44 year old dudes see the news, notice she's young, beautiful and has a ton of followers (majority male) and assumed this is a performance indicator. Stock rallies To be clear: the stock rallying does not mean the jeans will sell or that customers care about the tie-up or that this is an example of a smart celebrity partnership”

“We need more women in: pitch meetings, presentations, investment banks, on Wall Street, and my personal hill to die on: MBA programmes.”

2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Diversity and inclusion will be a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards, which are now open for entries, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering. 

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