Advertising has changed.

A campaign no longer has to simply sell a product. It can become a TikTok debate, an Instagram carousel, a meme, or a full-blown internet argument within hours.

Sydney Sweeney has recently been at the centre of two very different advertising campaigns that show exactly how powerful, and risky, this can be: American Eagle and Novig.

Both brands used Sweeney’s celebrity status to capture attention. Both succeeded in getting people talking. But getting attention and building a positive brand reputation are not necessarily the same thing.

Example 1: American Eagle

In 2025, American Eagle launched its campaign with Sydney Sweeney around the phrase “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.”

The campaign deliberately played with the words jeans and genes. Sweeney discussed genetics before bringing the message back to the clothing itself.

The problem was that the campaign’s imagery and wording created an unintended interpretation for some audiences. Critics argued that the emphasis on Sweeney’s blonde hair, blue eyes and “great genes” could evoke eugenic ideas.

From a marketing perspective, this is where creative wordplay needs a second layer of scrutiny.

The idea was memorable. The slogan was easy to repeat. But memorable does not automatically mean effective.

My takeaway: Before launching a campaign, brands need to ask not only “Will people understand the joke?” but also “What else could people reasonably see in it?”

Social media audiences are extremely good at analysing symbolism, language and cultural context. A campaign can leave the brand’s intended meaning the moment it enters the public conversation.

Example 2: Novig

Then came Novig.

The sports prediction platform partnered with Sweeney for a much more provocative campaign, positioning its product around sports while using highly sexualised imagery.

The strategy clearly worked in one sense: people noticed.

The campaign generated significant discussion, particularly among young male sports audiences, and Novig’s valuation reportedly increased from $500 million earlier in 2026 to $2 billion following a new funding round.

But the campaign also attracted criticism from female athletes who argued that the imagery sexualised women in sports rather than celebrating their participation in it.

This creates an interesting marketing question:

If controversy gets people talking, does that automatically make it good advertising?

I don’t think so.

A campaign can be incredibly successful at generating awareness while simultaneously creating a brand association that some consumers don’t want.

That’s the difference between attention marketing and trust marketing.

What These Campaigns Teach Us

Both campaigns demonstrate the same fundamental lesson:

Going viral is not the same as winning.

For marketers, the goal shouldn’t simply be to create something people cannot ignore. It should be to create something people remember for the right reasons.

Before launching a provocative campaign, brands should consider:

• What is the intended message?
• What unintended messages could audiences take from it?
• Who could feel excluded, objectified or misrepresented?
• Does the controversy strengthen the brand or overshadow the product?
• Will the campaign still make sense six months from now?

As a woman, I also think there is an important distinction between women choosing how they present themselves and brands using women’s bodies primarily as a marketing device.

Sweeney has every right to participate in campaigns she believes in. But brands also have a responsibility to think about what they are communicating through that imagery.

The S&S Perspective

At Signal & Strategies, we don’t believe that every controversial campaign is automatically bad marketing.

Sometimes controversy is intentional.

But there is a difference between starting a conversation and creating a problem the brand then has to defend.

The strongest advertising doesn’t just make people look.

It makes them understand, remember and trust the brand.

And in an internet where everyone has a microphone, the audience gets to participate in your campaign whether you planned for them to or not.