Why Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ad took flight

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A few days ago, The Boston Globe published an article about the American Eagle ad controversy with the headline “How American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney ‘good jeans’ ad went wrong.”

The preview on the newspaper’s website also included the line “The company’s stock has soared.”

That’s the exact opposite of something going wrong if you’re in business to make a profit. A more fitting headline would be “How American Eagle’s ad went right.”

What happened here was a triumph of marketing, what most companies with edgy ads want: for paid advertising to catch fire and explode into “ earned media ,” otherwise known as free advertising.

For those of you who misse