It seems that actor Sydney Sweeney has some kind of deep relationship with bad marketing strategies and poor execution. After breaking the internet with a soap infused with her bathwater, the Anyone But You actor has done it again with her new American Eagle ad campaign. What starts as an everyday ad telling the customers about the brand’s line of products starts going downhill after suggesting that Sydney is beautiful or the centre of everyone’s attention because of her ‘great genes,’ a play on the word, jeans.
The marketing team were definitely patting themselves on the back after coming up with that pun, but this particular wordplay has landed the brand and Sydney Sweeney in hot water. The public didn’t take well to a white actor with blonde hair and blue eyes talking about having great genes. After telling the audience about how she does have great ‘genes,’ the actor even says, ”You see what I did there, right?” Well apparently everyone did, and people on the internet are quite divided while deciding whether the ad is problematic or not.
Many believe that this kind of messaging is taking society backwards, moving towards eugenics. A user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, “Maybe I’m too woke, but choosing a blonde, blue‑eyed actress to say ‘great genetics’ is insane.” Another user commented that these kinds of ideas are born out of workplaces filled with a certain ethnicity of people (white); they wrote, “This is what happens when you don’t have people of colour in the room. Anyone outside that bubble would’ve seen it instantly.” Meanwhile, there are many who believe that all the criticism is just noise and that the negative PR has actually worked for the brand. A user commented on YouTube, “And now everyone’s talking about this. Mission accomplished.”
Sydney Sweeney in Idaho pic.twitter.com/81wz8R2vJe
— favs pop culture (@favspopculture) July 29, 2025
The ad is also filled with shots that take the ‘male gaze’ problem to new heights, and the pun isn’t that great to begin with. But Sydney Sweeney seems to be unbothered by all this, as she was seen enjoying herself in Idaho with some friends and a mystery man. Since separating from ex-fiancé Jonathan Davino, Sweeney has been linked with several suitors, including Glen Powell, Orlando Bloom, and Tom Brady. While the internet still seems to have no answer for who this mystery man is, Sweeney looks like she is having the time of her life. With controversial ad campaigns, being romantically linked with other famous celebrities, and having several TV shows and films in the pipeline, Sweeney is doing just fine.
