Sydney Sweeney's provocative new ad campaign leans into retro sexiness — and it's sparking debate

NZ Herald

3 days ago

Shane O'Neill: Well, the imagery is pretty scattershot, and so is the messaging. We have Sydney Sweeney looking kinda femme and kinda butch. We have her 'auditioning' for the commercial and also holding a camcorder, recording herself.
RT: There's a narrative in these images of that small-town gal moving to the big city, hoping to become a star. I found the audition video really strange – Sweeney is a mega-actress and superbly talented, and she seems very confident and savvy about how she chooses roles. To see her in that uncomfortable setting – where a guy off-camera is asking to see her hands?! – is unsettling.
A large part of her success is her ability to appeal to men and women. And that seemed to be the first point of controversy here: Many of the images and videos, like her filming herself with a camcorder or that audition moment, seem tailored for the male gaze specifically.
SO: The most provocative part of the campaign is when she's talking about offspring and genes. (She says, 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour,' and the camera pans to her blue eyes. 'My jeans are blue.') Sweeney also has softer copy in the press release. She says of American Eagle, 'They have literally been there with me through every version of myself.'
There's a message about mutable identity there. And that could be extended into a vision of America as a place where you're NOT bound by who you are at birth. But they went the full opposite of that.
RT: I love what you're saying about the potential of this ad versus the direction it ran toward. Jeans are really fertile ground for fashion brands to explore identity and are almost always marketed with provocation: I'm thinking of the Calvin Klein ads, but also smaller labels like Eckhaus Latta. Or the Diesel ads from 2010 that declared 'SEX SELLS! Unfortunately we sell jeans.'
SO: To be honest, I think the ad campaign didn't exactly know what it wanted to be. If we just had these images without any supporting text or dialogue, I don't think they'd really merit a second glance.
RT: I think what's getting people talking – or rather, why everyone was watching these TikToks obsessively over the weekend and picking them apart – is how regressive the ads seem. The line about her having great jeans – several people are suggesting in the comments on Instagram and TikTok that this is a 'pro-eugenics ad'. Whether or not that's the case, it is part of a wave of imagery of influencers, pop stars and musicians that feels tethered to the values of another time.
SO: Yes. The first thing I thought of when I heard the tagline 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans' was the DHS Instagram account, which posted a subtly racist painting a few weeks ago and an explicitly racist painting last week. The latter depicted a gigantic blonde buxom woman chasing away native people to make way for white settlers. When this is the imagery being promoted by our Government, a pun about 'genes' hits differently.
RT: The tagline is simply bizarre. Are they trying to say that what matters is not what you look like but what you put on your body? Or that you are assigned a denim style at birth and you must never waver from it? Also: is Sweeney the every girl or the only girl?
For the past five or six years, it seemed like fashion and pop culture were very interested in – even dedicated to – body positivity. Now we're being fed a lot of images of thinness, whiteness and unapologetic wealth porn, what with this campaign, influencers like Alix Earle, and Sabrina Carpenter's album cover.
Sabrina Carpenter's 'Man's Best Friend' album cover. Photo / Instagram
SO: I found that album cover really disturbing. The fact that it looked exactly like a Terry Richardson shoot from the early 2000s, the fact that it came when people are hiring him again, and when Dov Charney is releasing Los Angeles Apparel ads that look exactly like the American Apparel ads he made in the early 2000s, is very freaky to me.
RT: It's unclear where the irony is.
SO: But that arguably makes it a meaningful and successful image.
RT: Look, you know I'm a fashion fanatic. Images that make you stop and think – whether you're disturbed or delighted or, even better, have no clue what to make of what you're seeing – are really exciting and too rare in this era. But it is strange to see a brand like American Eagle go in this direction. Should teenagers be served a vision of sexuality and fashion that feels so regressive?
SO: Seeing these images with no accompanying text, I don't think I would have guessed 'American Eagle in 2025.' I will say that the far right's embrace of Sweeney – and the gleeful reaction from right-wing creators to 'woke' backlash to the campaign – lends credence to my initial alarm when I saw the ads.
RT: She is someone appreciated across the political spectrum. Recall in 2022 that she was called out online for a picture of a family birthday party in which an attendee was wearing a Blue Lives Matter T-shirt. And her own TikTok page pitches her as a car obsessive, not afraid to get under the hood though her hair looks perfect. She is also a Hollywood powerhouse who is producing movies and starring in iconic Gen Z movies and TV shows. How does she do this?
SO: There's something about her giant sleepy eyes and slightly flared nostrils that evokes distance and disaffection.
RT: As our colleague Sam pointed out, she codified the Gen Z stare on the first season of White Lotus.
SO: Yes! But there is something so deeply unattainable about what Sweeney serves.
RT: I'm gently pushing back on that. As a woman, I find her combination of sex appeal, smarts and strong but surprising instincts really inspiring. She is able to create these truly oddball characters. And I'll always be fascinated by someone who can capture attention so broadly in our fragmented pop culture landscape. But let's get back to the ad. Are the jeans good?
SO: They seem to want to have it both ways: dark blue classic American girliness and a stonewashed sloppy guy's girl.
RT: I thought the jeans were cute! But it's still funny that they are very sexually promoting … a baggy jean with a little adorable butterfly on the back?
SO: Enter the Möbius strip of outrage, dismissal of the outrage, outrage at the dismissal of the outrage … and eventually a huge bump in stock for American Eagle.
RT: Up 18 per cent this morning!
SO: In a time of prolonged economic uncertainty, I think other brands will learn the lesson that it pays to lean into controversy and trigger snowflakes like me.
RT: Absolutely. The only thing we can say for sure: the 'success' of this ad – stirring controversy and conversation and the big stock jump – will inspire more brands to try the same.