PR crisis in the digital era: Lessons from GAP and American Eagle’s viral jeans campaigns in 2025

We live in a world of fast fashion and over consumerism. With just one tap, four digits in your bank account can shrink to three. In the time it takes to scroll, spot something you like and autofill your payment details, you can go from browsing to “Order confirmed” in under two minutes, often without even thinking twice. Give it 5 days, and there will be a package waiting for you when you open your front door after an afternoon nap.

Human memory may not be the best and people may forget, but the internet will never forget. While slow online catalogue shopping has become more and more people’s preferred choice, advertisements are still very much relevant at capturing a consumer’s attention and influencing purchase decisions. The more engaging an advertisement is, the more likely people are to actively recall the brand when looking for brand choices. 

However, with the convenience this digital age has ushered in comes heightened connectivity. Information spreads fast; misinformation spreads faster. One misstep can snowball into a full-blown PR crisis in a matter of hours. Which is why it’s now more important than ever for companies with public platforms to understand the long-term impact of their actions and ideas.

Online engagement can turn into a full-blown PR crisis very fast

July and August 2025 were interesting months for the “Jean World”. 2 brands in particular were having experiences on two complete ends of the spectrum. While GAP was having the comeback of their dreams, American Eagle was not so lucky. What went wrong and what went right for them? 

Well, let’s cover where it went wrong first: American Eagle. 

Their advertisement took the typical approach of having a beautiful and popular celebrity, Sydney Sweeney, modelling their clothes against a plain backdrop, ensuring there was no distraction and your full attention would be on their products and only their products. 

Well, that did not happen. 

Sure, people saw American Eagle’s clothes on Sydney Sweeney, but more importantly, they were hearing her. Unfortunately for her, she is a conventionally attractive, societally accepted, white woman. Thus, hearing a white woman constantly talk about jeans, which is homophonous with genes, is not what this new generation of societally and politically correct consumers wants to hear. 

Could one argue that this situation was blown out of proportion? Absolutely. No company would purposefully veer into controversial topics like eugenics. Sure, being infamous cements you in people’s minds in a different manner, but no company would choose such a controversial topic. 

However, because of the permanency of social media, it is essential for companies to consider that there will always be a group of people who are going to find an issue with your content. What matters most is how much weight the issue they bring up can hold. Unfortunately for American Eagle, it was especially heavy. Although the advertisement was eventually taken down, the video is still plastered all over the internet.

Getting it right can be a PR jackpot!

GAP was fortunate enough to have a much better run with the public. Their advertisement consisted of KATSEYE, an up-and-coming global and diverse girl group, dancing to Milkshake by Kelis. Not only is this a popular song from the 2000s but it is also a well-known song amongst the youths as a form of meme reference. The choreography was simple enough for the common man to replicate into a dancing TikTok trend, to the point that even non-KATSEYE and -K-POP fans participated in it.

Most importantly, and unfortunately for American Eagle, the advertisement consisted of background dancers of different ethnicities. With GAP’s advertisement being posted after American Eagle’s, the backlash American Eagle received intensified because of comparisons.

What GAP did right was understanding who their target audience was. Capitalising on a fun aspect like music and dance allowed for GAP to break into the personal space of the youths: their personal TikTok accounts. Being politically correct by ensuring not only the face of the ad, KATSEYE, but also the dancers were diverse, resulted in more public contentment and support.

Also read: The evolving role of PR in forex and fintech

Final Thoughts

There are so many things companies can learn from American Eagle’s unfortunate run and GAP’s extremely successful run. Most importantly, companies need to understand their target audiences. While that is the basis of marketing, advertising, public relations, and anything in business really, companies need to go one step further and understand that they cannot stop at just their personal preferences. It is essential for companies to learn their target audience’s psyche and what they value. 

Should your idea go against their values, you will lose support from not just one person but a herd within seconds. However, if your ideas support their values and what they hold dear, you will have their unconditional support and loyalty. 

Hence, learn them well and make smart choices. Always factor in the power of social media. Remember that nothing is ever truly forgotten now. 

If you are keen to learn more about branding and PR, drop us a line at hello (a)syncpr.co.