Sydney Sweeney addresses backlash over her bathwater soap bar, but not American Eagle jeans ad

Sydney Sweeney has finally addressed her bathwater soap controversy, but she refused to comment on her most recent scandal.

The Anyone But You star spoke about the divisive side hustle in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, which involved selling a limited-edition soap bar that contained her bathwater.

The move sparked backlash from women online, who said the soap bar reinforced a culture where women are sexualised and commodified.

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Sweeney said she wasn’t expecting the negative reaction she got from the audience when the soap was announced.

“I think it’s important to have a finger on the pulse of what people are saying, because everything is a conversation with the audience,” she said.

“It was mainly the girls making comments about it, which I thought was really interesting.

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“They all loved the idea of Jacob Elordi’s bathwater.”

The actress said she created Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss bars with Dr. Squatch Soap in response to fan demand.

“When your fans start asking for your bathwater, you can either ignore it, or turn it into a bar of Dr. Squatch soap.”

The company only made 5000 bars of the soap, selling them for $US8 (approx. $12) a pop.

They were quickly put up for sale on eBay, going between $US100 ($155) and $US2000 ($3109) each.

The Journal found the bars are currently fetching about $US1500 ($2332) on the resale market.

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Earlier this month, Sweeney found herself in the middle of another controversy after an advertising campaign with denim brand American Eagle.

The campaign featured the star in multiple pictures and videos, with the campaign’s tag line ”Sydney Sweeney Has Great Genes,” with the word Genes crossed out and replaced with “Jeans.”

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The campaign sparked backlash as critics pointed out that ”good genes” and “great genes” have historically been used in the language of eugenicists.

Sweeney declined to comment on the campaign, The Journal said.

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