When I first saw American Eagle’s campaign with Sydney Sweeney, I couldn’t help but pause—not because the wordplay missed the mark, but because the context did.
Tongue-in-cheek is a style of humor rooted in sarcasm and irony. It’s playful by design. But it works best when the tone, the brand, and the talent delivering it are all aligned. Without that alignment, clever quickly turns into cringe.
Had this campaign featured someone known for comedy, it might have landed better—not perfectly, but perhaps with more grace. Comedians come with context: Audiences expect irreverence; they understand the wink. But Sweeney isn’t a comic. And American Eagle isn’t a brand known for subversive humor. So the joke doesn’t land with a laugh. It lands with confusion.
This isn’t about perfection, it’s about perception. And it isn’t just about American Eagle, either.
Take Dunkin’s recent campaign featuring Gavin Casalegno from The Summer I Turned Pretty. In the spot, he calls himself “The King of Summer” and says his tan is “genetic,” adding that “the sun just finds me” every time he drinks a Golden Hour Refresher. The line was likely meant as a tie-in to his show, but without the reference point, and in a cultural climate that’s hyperaware of coded language, it raises concerns. When people are fighting for belonging in every space from the boardroom to the border, messages that hint at superiority (even jokingly) can trigger deeper questions: Who gets to be seen? Who’s considered beautiful? Who’s the default?
In a time when humor can either humanize a brand or tank its reputation, marketers are stuck in the tension between wit and risk. And that pressure is real. Wendy’s has mastered that balance with its Twitter presence, a lesson in sustained sarcasm: The brand roasts competitors, replies with memes, and engages in fast-food flame wars, and it works not just because it’s funny, but because the brand has committed to that voice long term.
Today’s audience is paying attention not just to what is said, but who’s saying it, how it’s said, and whether they’re in on the joke. Shifting attitudes around beauty, race, and representation have made it clear: People want to feel seen, valued, and respected. And brands that miss that memo can quickly find themselves on the wrong side of the scroll.