Beyoncé Has Great Jeans, Too

Actually, Beyoncé had great jeans first; Her Levi’s ad came out almost a year before the American Eagle campaign starring Sydney Sweeney. Beyoncé also had great genes first; She is 16 years older than Sydney Sweeney. After all the hubbub about Sydney’s AE ad, and virtually no pushback about any Levi’s ads, I thought today’s post would be fitting (no pun intended). Here’s one of the Beyoncé ads in the Levi’s series…

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The Levi’s ad campaign launched in September 2024, coinciding with Beyoncé’s country music album and a certain song called “Levii’s Jeans.” I guess it was clever enough, if not low hanging fruit, to use the song and the superstar for a Levi’s commercial. Certainly there’s nothing controversial happening in the commercials, beyond the idea that some reject her music being country music.

A year later American Eagle comes along and makes denim a hot topic again. For all the pushback against Sydney Sweeney, she actually never said she has good jeans (or genes)… the narrator said it. Of course, they’re using word play and it works because Sydney has good genes (at least on the outside) and she has good jeans (according to American Eagle). Levi’s could’ve said the same exact thing about Beyoncé but they didn’t think of it first. What strikes me as the biggest difference between the two ads is that the American Eagle ads illicit a response whether you like them, hate them, or don’t care either way. The Levi’s ads, no offense to them or Beyoncé, are boring. Nothing much to remember… Just another ad for another product with another star spokesperson.

But the truth is that both brands and both stars can coexist. One star’s success doesn’t steal from the other. There are more than enough customers to go around, too. Some people like Levi’s, others like American Eagle. But I think it’s safe to say that in a marketing campaign sense, American Eagle made a bigger mark than Levi’s did last year and it has nothing to do with the spokeswomen.

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-Out of the Wilderness