Jeans, soaps and now lingerie: Sydney Sweeney’s ad controversies continue

American actress Sydney Sweeney is no stranger to controversy. And once again, the 28-year-old star finds herself the centre of attention after pulling a headline-grabbing stunt.

In footage uploaded on her Instagram page on Jan 27, Sweeney documented herself, along with her production team, scaling the Hollywood sign in darkness to hang lingerie across it, teasing the launch of her own lingerie brand Syrn.

The clip showed Sweeney entering the area of the sign through a gap in the chain-link fence, raising concern that she might face trespassing charges for her stunt. She was seen climbing the sign and was heard saying, “we’re going to get caught at this rate”.

The star of the film Christy (2025) was eventually seen posing gleefully in front of the Hollywood sign, the lingerie visibly hanging from it.

The video received more than 59,000 “likes” in two hours.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce told media outlet TMZ that it will make a police report against the actress for vandalism and trespassing. “We are still investigating how and under what authority (if any) the Sweeney production accessed the site of the sign,” it said.

Sweeney’s brand was launched on Jan 28, with business magnate Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez said to be backing the venture.

TMZ reported that while Sweeney got a permit to film the sign, she was not given permission to touch or climb it. The lingerie was removed after the shoot, but several bras remained, reported TMZ.

The Hollywood sign was built in 1923 in Los Angeles and stands on Mount Lee above Beachwood Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains.

It was donated to the city 21 years later. Now, the public can use designated hiking trails in the area surrounding the sign. In February 2024, a man was arrested for climbing onto the letter “D” of the sign as part of a social media promotion.

Sweeney, however, is not new to controversial marketing.

In July 2024, she starred in an advertisement for clothing brand American Eagle and sparked outrage over wordplay involving “jeans” and “genes”.

In the ad, Sweeney said “genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour”, before adding: “My jeans are blue.”

A racially charged debate over the ad’s hint at genetic superiority continued online for months after the ad premiered.

While the ad was dropped, social media was flooded with hundreds of tongue-in-cheek recreations of the ad.

The Euphoria (2019 to present) star’s run with controversial ads did not end there. In October 2024, Sweeney partnered men’s personal care brand Dr. Squatch to release a body wash called “Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss”. She was featured as a “magical body wash genie” that could grant “every man’s wish”.

With the video going viral on social media platforms, the brand leaned into the stunt by releasing a bar soap it claimed was a “limited-edition soap infused with Sweeney’s actual bathwater”.

Other ingredients in the soap, meant to evoke the smell of Douglas fir trees and moss, were typical, such as pine bark extract.

The release drew mixed reviews online from people praising the brand for its marketing creativity, while others expressed disappointment. “Setting us women back 100 years for a body wash is kind of insane,” wrote TikTok user yourgurlharls.

Sweeney’s run with controversial ads may be far from over, but these campaigns have been hard to ignore.