A year after Sydney Sweeney divided the internet with her controversial American Eagle ad, professional English footballer Jude Bellingham has sparked debate with his underwear ad campaign for Calvin Klein. An expert has now called out the double standard in the reactions to the ads.
Expert points out double standard in Sydney Sweeney and Jude Bellingham’s racy ads
Sydney Sweeney faced immense backlash for her American Eagle ad in 2025. While many fans claimed that the campaign sexualized the actress, its tagline offended numerous others. The tagline, which said “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” was a play on words for her “great genes.” This led fans to point out that the tagline was promoting a racial ideal in a politically fraught era.
Football star Jude Bellingham is fronting Calvin Klein’s new Icon Cotton Stretch underwear campaign, marking his debut campaign for the brand. The attacking midfielder has garnered a great deal of social media attention and has also reportedly driven up the brand’s stock by 6%.
During a conversation with News24 host Rita Panahi, expert Kinsey Schofield pointed out the difference in reactions to the two campaigns. She said, “I mean, poor Sydney Sweeney gets dragged into a national conversation about the male gaze every time she puts on a pair of jeans. Meanwhile, Jude takes his shirt off, and women are practically filing marriage licenses. Where are the lectures about, you know, objectification now?”
Showing some of the women’s reactions to Belligham’s ad, Panahi said, “Some of those ladies need to be better than that Kinsey. That young man is a human being with feelings. He’s not some piece of meat just to be ogled at.” Elsewhere, she claimed, “I find this type of objectification a little offensive. Uncouth, even.”
Just a year after her controversial campaign for American Eagle, Sweeney became the target of yet another backlash for her provocative ad for the sports trading app Novig. While she has addressed the American Eagle ad controversy, she has yet to comment on the Novig ad.
