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The actor Sydney Sweeney has said she should have addressed the controversy surrounding her American Eagle jeans advert, which was accused by critics of flirting with eugenics, saying not doing so “widened the divide” between people.
Sweeney, who made her name in HBO’s Euphoria and has since become a leading Hollywood star, told People magazine she regretted staying silent during the row, in which Donald Trump at one point intervened.
The actor said she had “come to realise that my silence regarding this issue has only widened the divide, not closed it,” while saying she is “against hate”.
The “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” campaign launched in the summer and was a huge success for the brand, which became the most popular jean for people aged 15 to 25. American Eagle’s stock also rose by 30%.
But the company’s use of a blond-haired, blue-eyed model saying she “has great jeans” was criticised as carrying undertones of eugenics and being “a nod to white supremacy”.
Some users on social media compared the ads to “Nazi propaganda”; while one writer described the ad as “a message straight out of the lab where they cook up culture-war pathogens”. Trump called the campaign the “hottest ad out there”.
The brand wasn’t only criticised by the left of the political spectrum – the financial magazine Forbes argued that it should “reconsider” the campaign. The publication also reported that American Eagle store visits were 9% down by the end of the summer.
“I was honestly surprised by the reaction,” Sweeney added. “I did it because I love the jeans and love the brand. I don’t support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign. Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren’t true.”
“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m always trying to bring people together. I’m against hate and divisiveness,” she added.
“I hope this new year brings more focus on what connects us instead of what divides us.”
Sweeney is considered an outside bet for an Oscar next year for her lead performance in Christy, David Michôd’s biopic of the trailblazing boxer Christy Martin.
She has mostly avoided the American Eagle ad in promotional interviews but has described Trump’s commenting on it as “surreal”.
