Sydney Sweeney’s “great jeans” ad blew up her year – and everyone else’s patience

1. Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle jeans ad was accused of eugenics-coded messaging after a “great jeans/genes” slogan collided with her Republican voter record.
2. Donald Trump praised the campaign as the “hottest ad ever”, while Sydney shrugged it off with “I love jeans”, turning a PR fire into a full-on culture-war bonfire.
3. Zendaya has reportedly refused joint press and red-carpet shots with her Euphoria co-star, not wanting to be seen endorsing the ad or Sweeney’s politics.
4. Doja Cat’s viral parody of the commercial made the controversy impossible to scroll past, even for people who thought American Eagle only sold hoodies in 2007.
5. Now the brand is pivoting to Martha Stewart, critics are writing think pieces, and Sydney is somehow more famous than ever, which is either poetic or cursed depending on your politics.

How a jeans pun became 2025’s most radioactive campaign

The “great jeans/genes” line that detonated the internet

The ad in question shows Sweeney bouncing around in denim while a tagline about her having “great jeans” does heavy dad-joke lifting. Online critics quickly pointed out that, in a year where far-right rhetoric is everywhere, a blonde white actress grinning about “great genes” does not exactly read as harmless wordplay.

Things escalated when voting records showed she is a registered Republican and Donald Trump publicly praised the commercial as the “hottest ad ever”, welding the spot to his long history of comments about “good genes”. Suddenly a mid-range jeans ad was being discussed like a leaked manifesto, and American Eagle’s marketing department needed a very long lie-down. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

Why brands quietly love the drama anyway

Here is the twist: while social feeds were on fire, the numbers were, annoyingly for critics, spectacular. Reports say the campaign added hundreds of millions in market value for American Eagle, doubled web traffic and helped drive a noticeable bump in sales, with executives calling it a “winner” despite the uproar.

Industry write-ups now cite the ad as proof that outrage can still be profitable, at least in the short term, especially when Gen Z and TikTok are arguing in the comments. The Hollywood trades have even labelled the backlash one of the “silliest controversies” of the year, which is bold when you consider how low that bar already is. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

Sydney’s “I just love jeans” defence that made everyone madder

Her GQ shrug and the art of doubling down by accident

When Sweeney finally addressed the backlash in interviews, she chose a tone best described as “annoyed but moisturised”. She told one profile she “did a jean ad”, that she loves jeans and was surprised by the reaction, treating accusations of white-supremacist undertones like someone had simply misread a pun.

Asked about Trump’s praise, she called it “surreal” and moved on without a clear condemnation, which for many viewers landed somewhere between evasive and flippant. The internet does not love moral ambiguity at the best of times, and these are not the best of times. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

The gap between fandom and brand ambassador reality

Fans who fell for Sweeney in Euphoria and The White Lotus had built up an image of her as a progressive, slightly chaotic Gen Z icon. Finding out she backs Trump-era politics and does not see why the ad upsets people hit like a bucket of cold water over a very expensive blowout.

It is the classic parasocial crash: audiences projected their values onto an actress whose actual views were, at best, unexamined in public. The jeans spot just happened to be the moment where those assumptions ran into a slogan, a shareholder call and a very loud former president.

Zendaya vs Sydney: when co-stars become political opposites

The reported feud that is wrecking Euphoria’s promo plans

Into this steps Zendaya, who has built her brand on civil-rights advocacy and very carefully chosen partnerships. Multiple reports say she is now refusing to do joint press with Sweeney, and is avoiding being photographed next to her, in case a red-carpet snap looks like an endorsement of the ad or her politics. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}

Sources describe it as a “difficult position”, pointing out that even standing beside Sydney could be read as excusing Trump’s praise and the ad’s alleged racial messaging. Imagine trying to flog season three of Euphoria while half your questions are secretly “So, are you cool with fascism?” and you get why her team might be setting some boundaries.

What this means for Euphoria’s carefully curated image

Euphoria built its reputation on messy characters and progressive themes, with Zendaya positioned as the moral centre off-screen. Having its other big star embroiled in a controversy tied to white supremacy accusations and the Trump brand is, to put it mildly, off-message.

HBO now has to promote one of its crown-jewel shows while its two leads reportedly will not sit together for a joint Zoom, let alone a glossy magazine spread. Expect a lot of carefully edited featurettes where they talk about “the cast” and “the work” while standing several strategic metres apart.

Doja Cat, memes and the TikTok trial of Sydney Sweeney

The savage parody that made the ad impossible to escape

If the controversy was simmering before, Doja Cat turned the hob up to full blast. She posted a TikTok mocking Sweeney’s delivery and the “great jeans” line, nailing the tone a little too accurately and turning the whole thing into a meme you could hear even with your phone face down. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}

Other creators piled in with duets and remixes, turning Sydney’s soft, breathy ad copy into the soundtrack to jokes about eugenics and corporate cluelessness. Once your campaign becomes a lip-sync challenge, you have officially left the safe harbour of “slightly cringe commercial” and sailed into “historical case study in brand risk.”

How TikTok turned a brand crisis into a content genre

On TikTok and Reels, entire accounts now specialise in re-enacting the ad, rating its weirdness or discussing how dog-whistles work in marketing. The discourse ranges from thoughtful breakdowns of coded language to people putting on bad blonde wigs and asking if their “great genes” entitle them to 20% off.

Doja’s involvement gave the conversation pop-star clout, making it feel less like a niche media-critique and more like a mainstream roast. Once another A-lister is clowning your script, you cannot spin the whole thing as a misunderstanding, no matter how many quarterly reports you wave around.

American Eagle’s Martha Stewart pivot and the brand panic

From Euphoria star to domestic goddess – a very sharp left turn

In the latest twist, American Eagle’s holiday campaign now stars Martha Stewart, who is approximately the opposite of Sweeney in every demographic chart. Coverage frames the move as a deliberate reset after the backlash, swapping controversy magnet for cosy aspirational grandma who also did time and somehow made it chic. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}

Fans have responded with relief and jokes about Martha having “great jeans” too, proving that the pun is not inherently cursed, just unlucky in its first outing. The subtext is clear: the brand wants to keep the sales bump without the political hangover, and nothing says “please stop yelling at us on X” like a festive ad featuring the queen of tasteful table settings.

Why everyone in Hollywood is watching this case study

Behind the memes, publicists and agents are paying very close attention. They are seeing a young star become toxic to some colleagues and audiences, even as the same controversy boosts her commercial power and visibility.

Older, savvier celebrities are probably forwarding the earnings reports to their teams with “absolutely not” in the subject line. Nobody wants to discover their face on a billboard that also doubles as a referendum on white nationalism and shareholder value.

What this mess says about celebrity politics and fandom in 2025

When your voting record becomes part of the brand deal

There was a time when brands tried very hard not to ask who their spokespeople voted for, as long as they looked good in the clothes. In 2025, that is no longer an option, particularly when the product is lifestyle and the campaign is drenched in personal language about “good genes”.

Sweeney’s case shows how fast political alignment, or the lack of a clear disavowal, can become part of the value calculation. To some, she is a martyr to cancel culture who moves product; to others, she is a walking red flag whose presence taints everyone standing nearby, including co-stars and co-workers.

The limits of “I’m just an actress” as a defence

Her “I just love jeans” line might have worked in a softer era, but in a landscape of rising extremism it comes off as willfully oblivious. Fans who once related to her characters’ pain now have to decide whether they can separate that from an off-screen stance that feels aggressively apolitical about their actual lives.

At the same time, the internet’s hunger to exile people over one campaign risks flattening nuance and turning every misstep into an unforgivable sin. Somewhere between “she did nothing wrong” and “burn every DVD she is in” lies the boring reality that people can be talented, messy and politically disappointing all at once.

Why UK audiences are hooked on a very American drama

Euphoria, US politics and the group chat ethics committee

For UK viewers, this story mashes several obsessions into one: Euphoria gossip, US election chaos and the eternal question of whether you can still wear a brand if its ad campaign makes you wince. British fans who binge the show on Sky or NOW are now having to decide how they feel about supporting a star whose politics sit uncomfortably with their own.

The whole saga feels like a turbo-charged version of the office debate about whether you can still drink a certain coffee after reading one bad headline. Only here, the coffee cries on HBO, wears low-rise denim and may or may not share a ballot preference with your least favourite uncle.

From jeans ad to global cautionary tale

In the end, the Sydney Sweeney jeans saga is less about one actress and more about how tightly entertainment, politics and shopping have been braided together. A single campaign has sparked brand boycotts, co-star distance, pop-star parodies and a thousand think pieces, all because someone thought a cheeky pun would be fun on a billboard.

For now, Sweeney is still working, the ad is still infamous and American Eagle has moved on to safer faces with great “jeans” of their own. The only safe prediction is that every celebrity and brand considering their next campaign will be asking one extra question: “Is this worth becoming the next Sydney Sweeney situation?”

References. A list of references and links used

• Nicki Swift – Celebs Who Want Nothing To Do With Sydney Sweeney
• CinemaBlend – Sydney Sweeney’s Jeans Ad Was Controversial. It Also Made A Ton Of Money
• IndiaTimes – After Sydney Sweeney controversy, American Eagle taps Martha Stewart
• The Express Tribune – Zendaya distances herself from Sydney Sweeney after ad backlash
• Euronews – Doja Cat brutally trolls Sydney Sweeney’s controversial jeans ad
• AOL – Sydney Sweeney addresses Trump weighing in on American Eagle campaign