• by Tanya Gazdik , Today

The jury is still out on American Eagle’s controversial Sydney Sweeney ad campaign.

American Eagle sales dropped 1% in the 13-week period that ended on Aug. 2 compared with the same period a year earlier. 

“But executives, who had pulled the firm's annual sales forecast in May citing economic uncertainty, said they now expected sales growth in coming months in the "low single digits", as purchases of everything from denim to underwear increase,” according to BBC. “The ad drew some 40 billion impressions and helped Sweeney's signature jeans sell out within a week of the campaign's launch.”

The campaign had been intended to be a "reset" for the company, a long-time staple of teen fashion that entered the year in a sales slump, chief marketing officer Craig Brommers told financial analysts.

“But questions remain whether American Eagle can convert those billions of impressions into real business,” according to CNN Business. 

Because the earnings period ended on Aug. 2, just days after the debut of the Sweeney campaign on July 23, there was little time for the company to assess its full impact on sales, especially during the back-to-school shopping period.

“The company said it would have more marketing materials featuring Ms. Sweeney in the second half of this year,”  according to The New York Times.

The actress is refusing to talk about it.

“Ahead of promoting her latest film at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend, the ‘Euphoria’ star made it clear that she didn’t want to address the brouhaha surrounding the divisive campaign,” according to the New York Daily News. 

She hasn’t spoken about the divisive ads yet—and tells Vanity Fair that she doesn’t plan to start now. “I am there to support my movie and the people involved in making it, and I’m not there to talk about jeans,” she says. “The movie’s about Christy, and that’s what I’ll be there to talk about.”

The retailer told analysts it is happy with the campaign results. 

“American Eagle also shared that the items Sweeney's curated “Syd’s Picks” shop have been refreshed four times already, with items performing four times better than AE’s other women’s items.” according to People.