Sydney Sweeny is an American actress known for her appearances in popular television shows like “Euphoria”, and movies like “Anyone But You”, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, and most recently, “The Housemaid”. Unfortunately, due to the internet, some of her roles and advertisements she’s been involved in, she has come to be known for her body, looks and political beliefs.
The start of it all
Sweeney began to blow up in her acting career after her portrayal of “Cassie” in “Euphoria.” Soon after, brands and companies reached out to feature her in advertisements. Notably, she was in an advertisement for Dr. Squatch, where she sold soap that supposedly had her bathwater infused in it. It was taken a step further when the soap was sold with a hole in it, promoting sexual innuendo. Audience reactions to the ads were controversial because of the way she presented the merchandise and the lines she says in the advertisement.
Following the initial strikes of the downfall, it only got worse from there with one controversial American Eagle jean advertisement which became an internet sensation and meme.
The Jean (Gene?) Ad
The concept of the ad had Sydney Sweeney, an actress known for her looks mainly, sporting all jean outfits and posing in often overly-sexualized ways. Instead of focusing on the jeans and jean products themselves, the focus seemed to be on Sweeney’s body and cleavage, which rubbed many audiences the wrong way.
Alongside this, the biggest controversy was the name of this ad: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” which set a fire to the media. Supposed to be a play on words between “jeans” and “genes”, as she is known for her looks, it backfired, and was taken poorly, as a nod to the concept of eugenics. Eugenics was the study of trying to “improve” the human population through breeding but was discredited as unscientific and racist after it was used by Nazis in an attempt to justify their treatment of Jewish people.
With Sweeney’s blonde hair and blue eyes, and her line in the ad: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue,” people accused her of promoting this concept, and it dragged down both American Eagle and Sweeney’s career. Furthermore, she spoke out defending the ad and did not address the Eugenic accusations, causing another ripple of dislike in the media.
Does she deserve the hate?
Josh’s take
Sydney Sweeny doesn’t deserve the hate she gets because a lot of it comes from people misunderstanding her. I think she is a good actress and puts a lot of hard work into her roles and advertisements, but people judge her off things taken out of context online. Sweeney, being such a known celebrity, is under a lot of pressure, and I think that there is no way that everything she does will always make everyone happy. Instead of criticizing her and tearing her down, people should realize that she is just human and she makes mistakes.
Avery’s take
I think that Sweeney is a good actress, and I think that she rose to fame at a very fast pace, which would be hard for anyone to deal with. I believe that she did not deserve the hate initially because of her ads, and I believe that she was almost set up for failure. However, I think that the outrage at how she chose to respond was justified. Instead of recognizing that the ad may have caused some offense or otherwise offering an explanation, she minimized it, disclaiming responsibility entirely, and only said “I did a jean ad,” which further enraged audiences. Additionally, she spoke out on her views of president Donald Trump, which although ok to have an opinion, deepened the controversy exponentially and polarized those for and against her even more.
How will this affect future performance?
Sweeny has really grown in popularity and made herself known as a controversial actress. Although she has made a dent in her reputation, she still manages to land roles. However, because of her mishaps and responses, some of her movies are flopping, such as “Christy.” There’s the fear that this will only continue to happen as time goes on if she keeps responding in the way she has been.
With all this being said, it’s hard to keep up with the media, and who is or is not cancelled. But what do you think? Does she deserve the hate, or is it way too much?
