Whether you know her from the hit series Euphoria, the light-hearted rom-com Anyone But You, or any of her other works that have hit the silver screen, Sydney Sweeney has claimed the pop-culture spotlight for a hot minute. Sweeney became famous at a young age, now only 27 years old, and due to her conventionally attractive appearance, many consider her to be the poster child of modern beauty standards. However, Sweeney has highlighted throughout her rise to fame that being in the public eye has not always been a walk in the park.
As the actress began gaining more media attention years ago, she spoke out about feeling over sexualized and feeling a loss of control regarding the intake of people’s perceptions about her body. Specifically, much of the commentary about her body from men was often vulgar and objectifying, and Sweeney felt that being nude on screen in the roles she played only made it worse.
However, things took a considerably more drastic turn this summer. In recent months, the actress has been monetizing her image and attracting a male audience through two major ad campaigns. This led to broader discussions around the ethics of these ad campaigns and the actress herself, especially after her past discomfort in being the target of objectification.
In June, Sydney Sweeney launched a soap with the brand Dr. Squatch. Despite being otherwise a run-of-the-mill soap, it was said to contain her bathwater, as emphasized by an ad featuring her in a bathtub promoting the product. This sparked a large amount of criticism, especially from women. Many commented that the ad campaign was feeding the machine that objectifies women. They were hypocritical coming from an actress who had previously discussed the hardships of being in the media and constantly being overly sexualized. However, others said that it was actually sexist to blame Sweeney for using her sexuality to try to make money, highlighting, for example, that no one seemed to have an issue with a Jacob Elordi bathwater candle created by fans that had come out a couple of years prior.
Later on in the summer, Sweeney was involved in an even bigger controversy regarding a jeans campaign with American Eagle. The tag line of the campaign was “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” with many speculating that it was a play on the word ‘genes.’ Considering that the actress has Aryan features, being blonde, white, and blue-eyed, there was considerable backlash, enforced by claims that the ad campaign promoted eugenics. Eugenics upholds the claim that specific genes are preferable to others and was especially employed by the Nazis to justify the Holocaust. This is no surprise, considering the current political climate in the U.S., which has created an atmosphere of tension among many people. While American Eagle denied any of those claims, saying that it only had to do with jeans and nothing else, the negative responses persisted.
While there does not seem to be a singular conclusion on the ethics of these ad campaigns, they have sparked interesting discussions. Topics from the sexualization of women in media and double-standards they have to withstand, to whether or not a jeans ad should be considered white supremacist propaganda. These campaigns also raised questions about intent in comparison with results. Even if Sweeney intended to sell her bathwater soap in a feminist way, does that inherently make it a feminist act? Or, contrarily, is it simply making the wheel that objectifies and sexualizes women go round?
With these questions to consider, many are waiting to see where the actress will go next after a summer where her face seemed to be everywhere. Only time can tell what Sweeney has in store for us next.