Sydney Sweeney wears denim in social media return, but doesn’t address American Eagle ad

ByStoryAI

Aug 16, 2025

Sydney Sweeney wears denim in social media return, but doesn’t address American Eagle ad

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Sydney Sweeney wears denim in social media return, but doesn’t address American Eagle ad

Sydney Sweeney returned to Instagram this week to promote her new film. The 27-year-old actress has remained mum on the controversy surrounding her ad. American Eagle has doubled down on their ad, saying it’s about the jeans, not the star. The movie “Americana” is now airing in select theaters two years after it was first released. It stars Sweeney as an aspiring country singer, Penny Jo Poplin, who lives in Duval County, Florida, where the ad was filmed. The film is based on a true story.

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Sydney Sweeney returned to Instagram this week (in denim), but she didn’t address her controversial American Eagle ad.

The “Euphoria” star, 27, took to the social media platform Aug. 13 to promote her 2023 film “Americana” which is now airing in select theaters two years after it was first released.

Sweeney – who plays an aspiring country singer Penny Jo Poplin in the flick – captioned the post, “A few years ago I filmed this little movie with some friends and now you get to meet penny jo.”

She then posted a photo carousel Aug. 15 on the film’s release day with a behind-the-scenes look at her personal life, posing in blue denim jeans and a white top.

American Eagle breaks silence on Sydney Sweeney jeans ad controversy

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“Duval diaries,” she captioned the post, seemingly a nod to Duval County, Florida. Sweeney owns a home in the state.

The images included Sweeney with a group of men and platter of alcoholic shots, posing with a separate group of women, and preparing to sing karaoke with a friend.

The Hollywood star has remained mum on the ad backlash, avoiding any public statements to the press or her fans about the incident. On Aug. 1, American Eagle spoke out and doubled down on their ad after days of discourse about the ad campaign in an Instagram post.

“‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,” the statement read. “Great jeans look good on everyone.”

USA TODAY reached out to reps for Sweeney for comment.

The marketing campaign courted controversy after social media users argued that the phrase “great genes” paired with a blond-haired, blue-eyed star echoed eugenic ideas — the discredited belief in improving humanity through selective breeding.

In one of several videos for the campaign, Sweeney, clad in a denim-on-denim fit, dabbles in some wordplay, telling cameras: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color.”

“My jeans are blue,” Sweeney said in the video. The fall 2025 denim campaign ends each promotional video with the tagline, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”

Contributing: Caché McClay

Source: Usatoday.com | View original article

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2025/08/16/sydney-sweeney-movie-american-eagle-ad/85689821007/