Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways

Sydney Sweeney has a way of saying nothing when people are begging her to say something. And after the backlash to her American Eagle campaign, she kept that streak alive.

On Friday, Sweeney returned to Instagram for the first time since her “Great Jeans” ad drew widespread criticism for its body pans and scripted puns about “genes.” In the campaign, the Euphoria star delivers vocal-fried lines about heredity, eye color, and denim — a setup that critics quickly linked to eugenics-coded language. It wasn’t subtle. Neither was the camera work.

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Her post didn’t mention the controversy. It was a quiet photo of blush roses, styled in a square frame with a white heart sticker. No caption. No comment. Just a soft visual reset.

The ad itself felt like a callback to a long-gone media era — and not in a nostalgic way. It reminded some viewers of Brooke Shields’ infamous Calvin Klein commercial from the 1980s, which paired denim with moody lighting and a provocative tagline. Shields was only 15 at the time, and in the years since, she’s said she had no idea how loaded the imagery really was. “I was naive,” she told Vogue, reflecting on the fallout. “I think the assumption was that I was much more savvy than I ever really was.” That campaign, she added, “set the tone for decades.” Sweeney is 27. And this time, the pitch wasn’t happening to her. It was happening with her.

That distinction is part of what made the AE ad land differently. Sweeney isn’t just a celebrity pulled into someone else’s vision — she’s a strategist with receipts. She helped drive the viral rollout for Anyone But You, convincing Sony to post a raunchy ASMR video that turned into TikTok gold. She capitalized on fan speculation with Glen Powell, even as his longtime girlfriend publicly walked away from the narrative. She’s auctioned off bathwater, played the press circuit like a pro, and showed up at Jeff Bezos’ wedding while quietly locking down a reported investment for her lingerie line.

That’s what made the “Great Jeans” backlash feel sharper. The pans, the puns, the tone — none of it felt thoughtless. It felt like a gamble on engagement, the kind that banks on headlines and discourse more than praise. And when that gamble didn’t land the way it was supposed to, Sweeney didn’t clarify, didn’t apologize. She posted roses. A single image, styled like a sigh.

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She doesn’t need to say more. Most celebrities don’t anymore. When every post can double as narrative control, silence isn’t retreat — it’s part of the strategy. And Sydney Sweeney, more than most, seems to know exactly how much attention a non-response can command.

Before you go, click here to see celebrities who have spoken out about being sexualized too young.

Britney Spears, Megan Fox

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