Does Sex Still Sell? Sydney Sweeney and other Controversies

Scrolling through my For You Page a mere few days ago, I come across a skit. A girl, dressed in baggy jeans, starring faint-lidded at the camera, repeats, “my jeans are blue,” her words faint and slurred. This mock of Sydney Sweeney in the new American Eagle ad is, unfortunately, pretty accurate. The campaign featured the Euphoria actor in a slew of new ads, the most controversial of which featured Sydney on a couch, buttoning up her jeans, squirming as the camera closes in, reciting, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My genes are blue.” A closing male voice exclaims, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans!” The internet lit on fire.

The original concept behind the ad was a tribute to Brooke Shields’ American Eagle ad in the ’80s, where she struggles on the floor as she puts her jeans on, talking about biology, making a playful pun on the words “jeans” and “genes.” While Shields was under fire for the ad due to her age—only being 15 at the time—Sydney Sweeney and the American Eagle company are being called out for taking the pun too far. A white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman sending the message that “her genes are great” rings tone-deaf to many consumers in this current political climate, with some fans quickly turning on Sweeney and the company, adamant that their eugenic-style messaging was intentional.

Sweeney, still under fire from her recent collaboration with Dr. Squatch titled “Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss,” sold a line of soaps claiming to feature some of Sydney’s bathwater, similarly divided the internet. While some argue the campaign was ironic, tongue-in-cheek marketing, given Sweeney’s previous self-awareness about her public image—even poking fun at herself for being known as the “dumb blonde with big tits” when “she’s really brunette” on a popular Glamour UK clip—others are rendered uncomfortable with the extent of the joke. The soap, which featured a hole in the middle, was reportedly, by Sweeney, made out of fun and to encourage hygiene among young men, but many consumers have deemed the whole campaign harmful and antifeminist.

Similarly, other celebrities have come under fire for their campaigns. Sabrina Carpenter’s new Man’s Best Friend album cover, which featured her on her hands and knees in a black dress, touching the thigh of someone in a suit who pulls her by the hair, also set the internet ablaze. Like with Sweeney’s controversies, the internet was quick to call this marketing regressive, especially in the recent wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned in the U.S., leaving some consumers scared for women’s rights. Carpenter subsequently released an alternate Man’s Best Friend cover album due to the controversy, despite some fans still supporting her sexual expression, claiming it’s on brand with her hyperfeminine on-stage persona despite her music which regularly decentralises men and caters to her female fans, her most recent example being her song, Manchild.

Some fans of both Sweeney and Carpenter argue that the true problem lies in punishing women for their sexual autonomy, and as far as Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend cover and Sweeney’s Dr. Squatch collaboration, this author has to agree. The viewer roots for the artists being sexualized but then punishes them for owning their sexuality. If Sweeney was acclaimed for her performance in Euphoria (much of which was heavily sexualized), then how can we punish her for using her same sexuality but to her own gain when it comes to Dr. Squatch? If Carpenter is celebrated for her hyperfeminine outfits, hair, and makeup, how can she be condemned for her album cover? The understandably tense discourse surrounding women’s rights in the U.S. has led to the media and public heavily policing female artists and their work, which both Sweeney and Carpenter have both fallen victim to.

While Sweeney and Carpenter are both aware of their public image and both usually poke fun at it—the American Eagle campaign is a different story. Instead of being tongue-in-cheek and subverting stereotypes, American Eagle simply posed Sydney Sweeney sexually in a national campaign and praised her genetics, shockingly growing its sales by approximately 24%, in spite of the controversy. Given Sweeney’s Eurocentric appearance, the campaign invoked conversations surrounding eugenics and white supremacy, questioning both the company’s and Sweeney’s political agendas, so while impactful financially, the campaign divided public opinion.

My previous article, How Wings Make the Brand: Victoria’s Secret and the Impact of Branding, explores the ways in which brands fail when they don’t adapt to the current social and political climate—this extends to advertising too. A great campaign relates to its target market, aiming for authenticity and originality to win consumer loyalty. American Eagle attempted to pay homage to an already controversial past campaign and posed Sweeney through the male gaze with highly questionable dialogue. Tongue-in-cheek, subversive marketing is nothing new, and often is done quite well, but in the case of American Eagle x Sydney Sweeney, I’m sorry to say the joke doesn’t quite land.