{"id":149341,"date":"2025-08-16T02:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T02:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/149341\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T02:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T02:06:10","slug":"whats-next-for-sydney-sweeney-after-american-eagle-jeans-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/149341\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Next for Sydney Sweeney After American Eagle Jeans Controversy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u2018Tis the season of Sydney Sweeney<\/a>. It just now comes with an asterisk.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two-time Emmy nominated actress, producer, Ford aficionado and booked-and-busy brand partner is revving up for the busiest run of a still rising career. On the heels of a meaty role opposite Oscar winner Julianne Moore in the Apple TV+ movie Echo Valley, Sweeney has two films in theaters on back-to-back weekends in August: Tony Tost\u2019s Americana followed a week later by Ron Howard\u2019s period thriller Eden opposite Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby and Daniel Br\u00fchl.<\/p>\n

\n\tSeptember delivers an anticipated Toronto International Film Festival world premiere for a big swing as a queer boxer in David Michod\u2019s biopic Christy, which she also produced, followed by Paul Feig\u2019s psychological thriller The Housemaid<\/a> opposite Amanda Seyfried. Early footage of the latter film electrified CinemaCon audiences when it debuted in Las Vegas in April. Oh, and the final season of Euphoria<\/a>, the show that made Sweeney a star, is on the horizon for early 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\tWho could have guessed that a seemingly harmless denim campaign would force a footnote on what could have been a glorious few months because of how it stirred up a surprise culture war that stretched from TikTok to the White House, with everyone from Lizzo<\/a> to Donald Trump weighing in with an opinion. But that\u2019s what happened after American Eagle<\/a> dropped<\/a> its \u201cSydney Has Great Jeans\u201d campaign July 23. It was designed as an ambitious partnership that included print ads, 3D billboards (including one on the Sphere in Las Vegas), Snapchat lens technology that allowed users to interact with a digital Sweeney, and a limited run of the \u201cSydney Jean\u201d with 100 percent of the net proceeds donated to a nonprofit of the star\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n

\n\tWithin days, a handful of TikTok users took offense to a campaign clip that features Sweeney saying (with unique inflection), \u201cGenes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.\u201d The users claimed it promoted eugenics or was a form of Nazi propaganda because Sweeney is white, blond-haired and blue-eyed. While countless users dismissed the theories as nonsense, the dog pile had begun causing the hot takes to go viral. Mainstream media outlets picked up on the swirl and the coverage helped spread the controversy far and wide, from from late night<\/a> to the White House. President Donald Trump clocked in<\/a> after The Guardian reported that Sweeney registered as a Republican in Florida prior to the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the \u2018HOTTEST\u2019 ad out there. It\u2019s for American Eagle, and the jeans are \u2018flying off the shelves.\u2019 Go get \u2018em Sydney!\u201d Trump posted on Truth Social. \u201cThe tide has seriously turned \u2014\u00a0Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be.\u201d His post came hot on the heels of American Eagle defending its campaign<\/a> while pushing back on the narrative that there was any other message to the pun. \u201cSydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans is and always was about the jeans,\u201d the brand shared on Instagram on Aug. 1.<\/p>\n

\n\tSweeney stayed silent. She still hasn\u2019t said a word about the campaign or its backlash \u2014 allowing American Eagle\u2019s statement to stand on its own as the brand reiterated that it was just a slogan about jeans and nothing more<\/a> \u2014 but she did return to Instagram on Wednesday to promote Americana with a carousel of artistic behind-the-scenes images for her 25.3 million followers. \u201cA few years ago I filmed this little movie with some friends and now you get to meet Penny Jo,\u201d posted Sweeney, seen in many of the images that also feature Paul Walter Hauser<\/a> and pop star turned actress Halsey<\/a>. It\u2019s the only recent promotion for the film that Sweeney has done aside from hitting the red carpet for a premiere at L.A. venue Desert 5 Spot on Aug. 3. But that night, she only posed for photos before quickly ducking inside without speaking to reporters.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt begs a question: What should Sweeney do now?<\/p>\n

\n\tNot much says Nathan Miller, CEO and founder of full-service strategic and crisis communications firm Miller Ink, which represents Fortune 500 companies and celebrities. \u201cAmerican Eagle played it reasonably well,\u201d he explained, adding that the brand\u2019s response reflects the current culture. \u201cThe same brand five years ago would\u2019ve apologized profusely and tried to move past it quickly. Instead, they stuck to their guns and stood by the campaign. It was irreverent enough without being offensive. What was great about it for Sweeney is that while it may have had everyone talking, she wasn\u2019t. Everyone was speaking about her, and she doesn\u2019t have to do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut with a busy fall up ahead, she surely will have to speak at some point about her new films even if the first time she does field questions from the press is during a TIFF press conference. Asked how she should respond to the reveal about her voting record as a Republican, Miller said, again, she doesn\u2019t need to engage. \u201cIf it is authentic to her and she wants to be public about it, great, but she should not feel compelled to do so just because someone dug up her party registration. It\u2019s totally appropriate for her to say, \u2018I don\u2019t discuss my politics, that\u2019s personal. I\u2019m only here to talk about my movie.\u2019 And she doesn\u2019t lose. That\u2019s the safest strategy,\u201d he noted, adding that on the flip side it is possible today to build a brand as a political celebrity as there have been plenty of examples on the left. Reaching across the aisle today only helps to widen one\u2019s appeal, Miller said.<\/p>\n

\n\tLucy Robertson, head of brand marketing at Buttermilk, an agency that specializes in creator marketing, said the American Eagle campaign felt like a \u201cmisstep\u201d for Sweeney because rather than leveraging her as a creative partner who helped shape the narrative. \u201cIt uses her as a convenient \u2018hook\u2019 to hang the campaign on, in this case, with a tone-deaf \u2018good genes\u2019 message that quietly reinforces Eurocentric beauty ideals like white skin, blonde hair, blue eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRobertson said that \u201creal influence\u201d in today\u2019s market comes from being \u201cembedded in the creative ecosystem for the long-term\u201d rather than just doing one-off endorsement deals. Sweeney has a long history of brand deals after having partnered with Laneige, Miu Miu, Armani Beauty, K\u00e9rastase, Heydude, Dr. Squatch and Baskin-Robbins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cZendaya\u2019s partnership with On<\/a>, for example, sets the benchmark. In that 14-month collaboration \u2014\u00a0set to be the first chapter of a multi-year partnership \u2014 she hasn\u2019t just starred in ads \u2014 she\u2019s co-designed the Cloudzone Moon sneaker, helped craft the visual story in the evocative \u2018Be Every You\u2019 campaign, and shaped how her identity and movement translate into both product and storytelling,\u201d Robertson explained of Sweeney\u2019s Euphoria co-star. \u201cThat level of integration deepens cultural currency where we\u2019ve seen Sydney front multiple brand campaigns in a short space of time, the result can feel more transactional than transformative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA well-placed legal source familiar with negotiating A-list brand deals says it may be too soon to tell whether the social media swirl will affect Sweeney\u2019s future partnerships and acting gigs. Companies might prefer not to work with her if they believe consumers have Sweeney fatigue or if her exposure could tarnish their image.\u00a0(Amid the American Eagle backlash, Baskin-Robbins disabled comments on its TikTok videos featuring Sweeney.) The expert notes their advice to clients varies based on star wattage and that there\u2019s a science to measuring celebrity. At a certain level of fame, too many product endorsements could dull one\u2019s A-list image, the source added, while others turn to international markets to keep cash flow coming in while avoiding being \u201ceverywhere\u201d on their home turf. Meanwhile, brand deals are becoming a necessity for middle-of-the-road actors who are feeling the squeeze of studio consolidation with fewer available gigs.<\/p>\n

\n\tMatt Herbert, Chief Commercial Officer of brand tracking platform Tracksuit, tells\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter\u00a0that the reaction to AE\u2019s campaign \u201cdoesn\u2019t need to necessarily define AE, but it is about how they react from here on.\u201d He cites Pepsi\u2019s\u00a0controversial 2017 ad<\/a>\u00a0with Kendall Jenner that some called tone-deaf for using strikingly similar themes to Black Lives Matter protests. (The company later pulled the commercial online.)<\/p>\n

\n\tTracksuit also found that brand awareness for another one of Sweeney\u2019s brand partnerships for Dr. Squatch saw that company boosted by three percentage points from August 2024 to July 2025. (Recall that the men\u2019s soap brand sold bars made with her actual bathwater<\/a> due to popular demand.) The company also notes that \u201ctrendy\u201d is a common theme associated with Laneige, Dr. Squatch and Miu Miu among survey respondents already familiar with all three brands. As for AE\u2019s bottom line, the company\u2019s next earnings report is Sept. 4, which could offer insight to how much of an impact, positive or negative, the controversy had on sales.<\/p>\n

\n\tHerbert notes that AE was \u201cfacing pretty big challenges over the past 18 months,\u201d with brand awareness down by 6 percentage points from January 2024 to June 2025; and consideration, preference and usage declined by 5 percentage points. \u2026 any celebrity [endorsement or] brand activation is an attempt to drive relevance, which we know from looking at all of our tracking data.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the case of AE, \u201cthe news is so fresh, the conversation is so fresh, and we\u2019ll be keeping an eye [on the outcome of the campaign in] the coming months,\u201d says Herbert. That could mean even more eyes on Sweeney and her upcoming projects, which in Hollywood is always a good thing.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSweeney in American Eagle\u2019s fall 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of American Eagle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Tis the season of Sydney Sweeney. It just now comes with an asterisk. The two-time Emmy nominated actress,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":149342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[67843,171,87913,81711,21218,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-149341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-american-eagle","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-halsey","11":"tag-paul-walter-hauser","12":"tag-sydney-sweeney","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115036002035670630","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}