It’s a joke, people! And a rather clever one since American Eagle Outfitters has managed to drive a ton of traffic to its Web site, and likely garnered a plethora of new emails to its marketing lists. The 30-second video released Wednesday quickly went viral and had social media buzzing about the AEO Skinny Skinny jeans.

The video starts off like any other you’d expect targeted toward fashion-conscious teens, featuring a couple of young adult talking about—what else—themselves, and how they love wearing skinny jeans that often aren’t skinny enough for their cool-kid lifestyles. But about halfway through, you get the feeling these aren’t just your typical skinny jeans as the camera focuses on a girl’s ass that is just that—her ass. It may look like she’s wearing jeans, but there’s definitely some crack there. Good thing she didn’t turn around because she’s wearing some body paint and nobody wants to see her camel toe—well at least nobody decent.

Way to grab our attention AEO. But what it did next was ever more clever. A link to its online store leads to a page that tells us Skinny Skinny jeans are merely a couple of spray-paint cans, available in “indigo” or “bright wash.” The ad claims only 1,000 are available through a “limited edition premium package.” But guess what? There’s none available. Anyone who tries to purchase them—God, help you—gets a pop-up stating the Skinny Skinny line is already sold out, but please enter your email address to be notified when they are back in stock.

Seriously? Wow. And you know what’s sad? I’m sure AEO got thousands, if not millions, of email addresses with this tactic. Does anybody really think they will be able to sell spray paint as jeans? It’s not a porn shop. You can’t go out in public that way! The whole scheme could almost be considered evil if people who fell for it weren’t such idiots. And if you really do want to paint on your jeans… go to Home Depot. I’m sure you can buy a couple cans of spray paint a hella lot cheaper than $50.

Samantha Lile

Samantha Lile is a 2002 Missouri State University graduate of journalism and mass media. She has served as a reporter and editor for various newspapers throughout her journalism career. She made the leap into writing full-time after working for a major financial institution since 2000.

Because of her banking background, Samantha is knowledgeable in finance reporting, but is also strong in commentaries, personal profiles, youth studies, horticulture, history and entertainment-related works.

Samantha lives in Ozark, Mo. with her husband of nine years, four dogs and two cats.

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