Ever since Sydney Sweeney catapulted to fame enjoying “a gratuitously topless” teenager on HBO’s “Euphoria,” she has been upfront in interviews about utilizing her sexuality and star energy to get consideration and to “make deals,” together with with wealthy, highly effective and controversial figures like Jeff Bezos, in order that she will be able to rake in as a lot cash as potential, in response to one evaluation of her profession.
The Every day Beast additionally stated the 27-year-old actor and producer has confronted ongoing suspicions that she’s secretly alt-right, which has fueled the social media outrage over her alternative to look in a blue denims advert for American Eagle. The advert has been slammed for being a “racialized dog whistle” that promotes white supremacy and “Nazi propaganda” as a result of its imagery and tagline reward the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Sweeney for her “great jeans” — phrases seen as a deliberate play on the phrase “great genes.”
Whereas Sweeney has not responded to the criticism, advertising and marketing and PR consultants have stated that the controversy over the advert marketing campaign was not the results of a mistake or a misreading of the cultural second, because the Every day Mail reported. Certainly, the “racial overtones” of the advert weren’t “subtle” and the tagline was “deliberately” provocative, stated Las Vegas-based publicist Alexandria Hurley.
“From a PR perspective, what we’re seeing from Sydney Sweeney isn’t a ‘misstep’ or ‘Pepsi moment. It’s a calculated brand evolution,” Hurley advised the Every day Mail. “Sydney has flirted with controversy before … and rather than walk it back after criticism, she’s leaned further in. That’s not oversight. That’s strategy.”
For Sweeney, her “strategy” is to construct a sure sort of celeb, Hurley stated. “This is a play for attention, not respectability. She’s embracing a kind of polarizing, headline-generating persona — and for now, it’s working. It has people talking, and brands who care more about reach than responsibility may still line up.”
Due to the advert, Sweeney has turn out to be a darling for some right-wing figures, equivalent to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. He posted a sultry picture of a half-nude picture of Sweeney in tight-fitting denims, posing for the American Eagle advert. He slammed the “crazy left” for popping out “against beautiful women.”
However Hurley and different PR and advertising and marketing consultants stated it’s a bet for a rising star like Sweeney to attempt to be controversial, as an alternative of being revered or appreciated.
“In agreeing to this campaign, she showed that for the right price, she was willing to ignore the values of her diverse, young fan base,” Alexandria Hammond, principal at BrandNEWS PR Consulting Agency, advised the Every day Mail. “Bottom line: She sold out.”
The advert’s tagline declares that “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.” However a viral clip, as a part of the marketing campaign, exhibits Sweeney standing in entrance of a poster that reads: “Sydney Sweeney has great genes.” Nevertheless the phrase “genes” is crossed out and changed with “jeans.”
One other video exhibits Sweeney saying, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color.” Because the digital camera pans to her blue eyes, she provides: “My jeans are blue.”
For these advertisements, Sweeney and American Eagle have been accused of selling eugenics, the manipulation of copy within the human inhabitants to extend heritable traits which are extra fascinating.
“OH MY GOD,” one consumer stated on X. “Yeah that’s some (expletive) Aryan eugenics (expletive).” One other X consumer added: “The most Nazi part of the Sydney Sweeney ad for me was the use of the word offspring.”
The controversy didn’t instantly harm American Eagle’s backside line, in response to the Every day Beast. The model, which had beforehand slipped from the popular culture relevancy of its heyday, noticed its inventory leap by double digits after Sweeney’s marketing campaign debuted. The informal clothes firm additionally catapulted into the nationwide dialog for the primary time in many years—and the brand new earnings reversed a lot of its yr‑to‑date losses, the Every day Beast stated.
Jonathon Narvey, CEO and Founding father of Thoughts Meld PR Inc., advised the Every day Mail that American Eagle was probably “counting on precisely this kind of media buzz.” Over at NPR’s Morning Version, promoting skilled Allen Adamson, co-founder of brand name advertising and marketing agency Metaforce, agreed that inciting a social media backlash was the purpose. Even with a message that many discover offensive, this Sweeney-centric marketing campaign exhibits a “company figuring out how to break through in a world where everyone is screaming and saying, ‘Look at me, look at me!’”
Adamson additionally stated the marketing campaign is indicative of a technique amongst manufacturers to maneuver away from extra inclusive types of promoting, which have been common in recent times. He stated, “People remember disruption. People remember the edge. Pushing buttons.”
Pushing buttons additionally seems to be Sweeney’s PR technique, on the identical time that the “entire cultural ethos” is transferring to the precise, as MSNBC producer Hannah Holland wrote this week. After Sweeney advised The Solar in 2023 that she takes offers as a result of “they don’t pay actors like they used to,” she’s confronted controversy in latest months.
In Might, the Spokane, Washington, native went viral for partnering with the Dr. Squatch pure cleaning soap firm to promote a product that was marketed as containing a few of her soiled bathwater. The advertisements “predictably,” Holland wrote, confirmed an ostensibly nude Sweeney bathing in a bathtub.
Final month, Sweeney generated headlines by turning up in Venice to attend the glitzy, gauche wedding ceremony of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. Individuals initially couldn’t determine why Sweeney was there, provided that she, in contrast to Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian or Ivanka Trump, wasn’t recognized to be buddies with both Bezos or Sanchez. However reviews quickly emerged that Sweeney was launching a lingering model — with monetary backing from Bezos, in response to Holland.
The web was outraged, condemning Sweeney for aligning herself with a person branded an American oligarch, all for a paycheck, Holland stated. However the Every day Beast stated that attending the marriage of a Trump-friendly billionaire like Bezos, adopted by the “Great Genes” advert marketing campaign, merely symbolize the most recent headline-grabbing profession strikes for Sweeney.
“I cannot blame Sweeney for financially benefiting from a system that is going to exploit her either way,” Holland wrote. “Still, her willingness to participate in such an obviously damaging — and, depending on who you ask, even dangerous — advertising campaign as the latest American Eagle collection is disappointing.”
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