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Gap’s Viral Katseye campaign navigates a modern culture war with a classic formula

One brand chose a divisive pun and became a culture war symbol. The other chose an inclusive dance party and went viral. Here’s how Gap navigated the great denim divide of 2025.

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It’s the infectious 2003 hit you can’t get out of your head and the dance you’ve seen all over your feed. Gap’s new “Better in Denim” campaign, featuring the multicultural girl group Katseye dancing to Kelis’s "Milkshake,” has become a sensation. It’s a deliberate and successful return to a classic formula for the brand: a brilliant song, infectious energy, and timeless blue jeans, a playbook they used in iconic adverts with everyone from Daft Punk to Madonna.

The choice of a Y2K anthem is no accident, designed to promote a fall collection inspired by early 2000s fashion. But the advert's runaway success isn’t just about nostalgia. It has landed as a joyful counterpoint in a fraught cultural moment.

A few weeks earlier, American Eagle launched a campaign with 'Euphoria' star Sydney Sweeney that quickly became a lightning rod for controversy. The advert’s central theme was a pun on "genes" and "jeans," ending with the slogan, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”

The wordplay, combined with Sweeney being a white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress, drew immediate and fierce criticism online. Detractors on social media described the ads as “tone-deaf” and “Aryan-coded,” accusing the brand of clumsily evoking themes of eugenics and racial purity, whether intentional or not.

While American Eagle stood by its campaign, stating the ad “is and always was about the jeans” and “great jeans look good on everyone,” the controversy quickly escalated beyond social media chatter. The campaign was enthusiastically championed by right-wing political figures, including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Senator Ted Cruz. After Trump called it the “HOTTEST ad out there” in a Truth Social post, American Eagle’s stock soared as much as 23%, cementing the advert not just as a marketing misstep, but as a new symbol in a wider culture war.

It was into this politically charged environment that Gap launched its campaign. Where American Eagle’s message was seen by critics as exclusive, Gap’s was explicitly inclusive. Katseye is the product of the reality series "Dream Academy," a collaboration between HYBE (the South Korean agency behind BTS) and Geffen Records with the stated goal to “take the ‘K’ out of K-pop and make it global.” The result is a purpose-built multicultural group designed for worldwide appeal.

The public reaction highlighted the contrasting differences in strategy. While the "genes" debate raged, a post from an Indian entrepreneur and mother went viral. She shared a photo of Katseye’s Lara Raj, an American singer of Indian descent, and explained why seeing her in a major campaign was so important for her daughter. “This is why representation matters,” the post concluded, a sentiment that garnered hundreds of thousands of likes.

While American Eagle’s campaign sparked debate, Gap’s sparked participation, with thousands of users recreating the dance choreographed by Robbie Blue on TikTok.

Of course, in today's climate, no major brand escapes criticism entirely. The Gap ad did face some pushback from conservative commentators online, with one popular post calling it a “woke garbage ad.” But this was a whisper against the roar of positive engagement, especially when compared to the broader "denim wars" which also saw Beyoncé's Levi's campaign criticised by some conservatives as "artificial" and "trying too hard."

X users respond to conservatives calling the GAP ad garbage

In the end, the divergence in strategy was clear. American Eagle opted for a provocative pun that became politically divisive. Gap chose a simpler, more universal message of inclusive joy. In a fractured market, the most effective message isn't always the most clever, but the most welcoming.

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