Controversial ad campaigns seem to be Sydney Sweeney’s niche at this point. Because, yes, she already has another one. It’s only been about a month since her participation in Novig’s “Just Sports” ad campaign sparked a ton of backlash. Novig just released a second ad as part of the campaign earlier this month.
Then, on October 21, Sydney took to Instagram to share a teaser for her lingerie brand Syrn’s holiday collection. The ad she shared showed her portraying classic Christmas characters while modeling lingerie, which had some critics convinced that she’s somehow reached a new low.
People found it shockingly inappropriate—even for her.
And that’s saying something. You might remember how she sparked backlash with her American Eagle jean campaign in July 2025. And, of course, the more recent sports betting ad got a lot of attention as well. But for this one, she dressed up as characters like Cindy Lou Who from How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and Kevin McCallister from Home Alone.
So, critics found the fact that Sydney portrays child characters in the lingerie ad extremely disturbing.
“To portray children’s characters while dressed in lingerie???” one critic wrote on Reddit. “That’s too much, even for her.” Someone else argued, “her dressing like a sexualized child is f—ing disgusting. As a woman she should know better. Sex appeal is one thing, dressing up like a little kid and being provocative?”
“Dressing up as Kevin from Home Alone in a lingerie ad is certainly a choice,” a third critic added.
Someone called her “Cindy Lou Ew.”
Another person called her “so gross” for doing this. “The only way she can get attention is by being disgusting apparently,” someone said.
People also questioned who the ad was even for. Sydney has acted as though she created her lingerie brand for women specifically. However, her ad campaigns don’t exactly make people feel like women are her target audience.
When she explained her brand to Elle, she said, “I wanted to build a lingerie brand that feels like it understands women instead of talking at them. Syrn is about confidence without pressure, feeling hot, powerful, soft, playful, or all of the above, depending on the day.”
Is a sexualized ad showing Sydney as different Christmas characters really meant to make women feel understood? Somehow, critics don’t think so. They have a hard time believing that the ad campaign for her holiday collection was made with women in mind.
“supposedly her whole lingerie line is marketed for women… but we all know who it’s truly being marketed for (along w/ pretty much every thing else she ever advertises),” one critic wrote.
“Is she thinking it’s 1967 and most lingerie sales are by husbands buying for their wives/mistresses?” someone else questioned. “Nothing about this branding is appealing at all to women, you know, who actually purchase the goods she’s peddling?”
Presumably, Sydney is not acting alone.
While critics questioned what her problem is, others pointed out that there’s no way she brought this whole campaign to life on her own. Which means that other people saw no issue with it, either.
“I really dislike Sydney Sweeney and the public persona shes created but let’s not forget that she’s not solely creating these ads, there are whole marketing teams planning and approving this weird s—,” someone wrote in her defense (sort of, at least).
And people would like to know who, exactly, thought this holiday ad was a good idea. “is she dressed as cindy lou hoo? as in the child???” another critic said. “Either she has the worst PR team in Hollywood or she herself is a deeply weird and misguided person. it’s like every decision she makes is designed to make people think less of her.”
Even if the campaign was not Sydney’s idea, it’s still something she participated in, just like all of her other controversial ads. “Is she allergic to doing a good ad?” someone questioned. “tacky ad campaigns are her true calling in life,” another person concluded.
