Remember when "The Bear" star Jeremy Allen White made female hearts go pitter-patter with this 2024 Calvin Klein underwear campaign?
What about that same company's collaboration with comely actress Dakota Johnson, Madame Web herself?
the style of the season. Dakota Johnson in the new Baggy Jean. a relaxed fit that gets better with every wear. pic.twitter.com/fZk9VYja4e
— calvinklein (@CalvinKlein) March 9, 2026
Or consider Sabrina Carpenter donning lingerie for Skims. Hubba hubba.
All three stars are easy on the eyes. All showed plenty of skin in the ads in question. It's a time-tested tactic.
Sex sells. And advertisers have leveraged that basic fact for decades. Just ask Cindy Crawford. People Magazine labeled her 1992 Pepsi spot as "iconic."
And, over the years, very few folks complained about the practice.
We certainly didn't see Legacy Media outlets wringing their hands over the spots, questioning how controversial they are or suggesting the celebrities might be, gasp, White Nationalists.
Yet the mainstream media did just that after Sydney Sweeney teased the difference between "genes" and "jeans" last year for that American Eagle ad campaign. Sweeney stood her ground, refusing to apologize for the successful ad campaign or even suggest the ad's banter represented anything but a fun play on words.
Embarrassing barely describes the media circus around the spot. Yet the media is doing it again to Sweeney.
And we certainly know why.
The actress isn't political. At all. She keeps her ideological musings to herself, a no-no to the modern left and the media (but we repeat ourselves). Plus, her family (gasp) once threw a party with a Make America Great Again-style motif.
The horror, the horror.
Those two elements put a target on the actress' back. And, apparently, it's still there and crimson red. The "Christy" star is appearing in very little for a new sports trading ap Novig.
Confirmed: Sydney Sweeney knows ball. pic.twitter.com/EXQ4PzVZsi
— Novig (@Novig) September 9, 2026
Thank goodness for two basketballs, otherwise we might see The Full Sydney. It's playful and oh, so 1990s. That's when we could admit that sex sells and marketers reacted accordingly.
First, USA Today attempted to make a story from the new Sweeney ad campaign.
To buttress its phony narrative, the newspaper cited multiple randos on Twitter who complained about the ad campaign. That's Woodward and Bernstein-level reportage, no doubt.
You can get any number of X users to say the sky isn't blue, it's magenta, actually. Surely, no other major outlet would pick up the non-troversy, right?
Wrong, and don't call us Shirley.
The Hollywood Reporter weighed in, and the headline says it all:
Sydney Sweeney Faces Backlash for Sexualized Novig Ad: “Exactly Why Women in Sports Aren’t Taken Seriously”
The more accurate headline is, Exactly Why Journalism Isn't Taken Seriously."
There are two reasons for this unprofessional behavior. One, journos know any story involving Sweeney could be click-worthy. Especially one that reproduces images of the sultry starlet.
Two, she hasn't trashed Trump nor backed the modern Left in any way, shape or form like many of her famous peers. Reporters believe if they bully her enough, she just might change her tune.
Heck, it worked with Jimmy Fallon. The Media savaged him for tousling Donald Trump's hair during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Now, Fallon's "Tonight Show" is just as left-leaning as the other late-night programs. Just less angry.
Maybe in a year or two Sweeney will go the full DSA and use every interview to promote Democrats. Then, and only then, will these media hits disappear.
