Sydney Sweeney’s latest film flops following American Eagle ad controversy
Sydney Sweeney's latest film got bombed at the box office and there are speculation that it might be because of her American Eagle ad controversy.
According to the foreign media reports, the denim campaign, playing on the words “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans/Genes,” sparked backlash after some critics labeled it 'Nazi propaganda.'
Sweeney’s new movie Americana, in which Halsey played alongside her and Paul Walter Hauser premiered at South by Southwest in 2023 but only hit theaters nationwide on Friday.
Written and directed by Tony Tost, the crime drama movie follows a group of outsiders whose lives violently collide after a rare Lakota Ghost Shirt surfaces on the black market in a small South Dakota town.
Despite some festival buzz, reviews have been lukewarm, with the film sitting at 68 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Americana is projected to gross just $850,000 from 1,100 theaters in its opening weekend — ranking 16th place at the box office.
The Euphoria star, 27, is the face of American Eagle's Autumn 2025 denim campaign, with the tagline: “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.” But the play on words has sparked fierce debate online, with some accusing the ad of promoting messages linked to eugenics and white supremacy.
In the viral campaign, Sweeney is seen modelling various denim outfits while speaking about inherited traits such as eye colour and body composition. One line, My genes are blue, paired with camera angles and visuals, triggered concerns that the messaging subtly celebrates genetic superiority.
Critics took to social media, calling it “a racialised dog whistle” and aligning it with “modern-day Nazi propaganda.” A Salon article argued that the use of the word “great genes” historically celebrates whiteness and thinness, calling the campaign “tone-deaf.”