Sydney Sweeney, the actress known for her roles in “Euphoria,” “Anyone But You” and a host of other buzzy movies and TV shows, is the face of a new bar of soap, purportedly made with a special ingredient: her own bath water. The internet may take quite some time to recover from this news.
The product, “Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss,” is a collaboration with Dr. Squatch, a men’s personal care company that describes itself as using natural ingredients and “manly scents.”
The actress announced the new soap on Instagram. Her caption referenced a previous advertisement she had done with Dr. Squatch, saying, “You kept asking about my bathwater after the @drsquatch ad… so we kept it.”
In a news release, Ms. Sweeney said the requests for her bath water were “weird in the best way.”
The limited-edition bar of soap, made with sand, pine bark extract and a “touch” of Ms. Sweeney’s real bath water, according to the company, will be go on sale June 6. Leaning in to the salacious nature of the product, an Instagram post by Dr. Squatch included a provocative description of the soap’s scent.
“There’s no playbook for turning Sydney Sweeney’s actual bath water into a bar of soap, but that’s exactly why we did it,” John Ludeke, the senior vice president of global marketing for Dr. Squatch, said in the company’s news release. “We thrive on ideas that make you laugh.”
Nearly as eye-catching as soap made from the slosh of one’s own bathing ritual are the reactions to it on social media. Users’ remarks have run the gamut, from extremely vulgar to celebratory. Others were simply asking, “Why?”
In a Reddit thread that questioned whether Ms. Sweeney’s new product was preying on the loneliness of men, Meera Gregerson, 28, said she did not view selling a product to people as predatory.
“I think that the fact that she’s been sexualized and made to be a sex icon in some ways as a celebrity — I think it’s fair for her to also want to make money off of that,” Ms. Gregerson said in a phone interview. “I don’t think it’s that different from her selling movies using her appearance as a selling point.”
Multiple social media users have pointed out that Ms. Sweeney’s new product is reminiscent of a stunt from Belle Delphine, an adult content creator with a large social media following, who made headlines in 2019 for selling her own bath water.
Chad Grauke, 39, who also took to Reddit to share his reaction to the soap, said he did not take issue with the product itself, but was more so curious about “what type of person is buying this stuff.”
“I don’t feel it’s the lonely hermit as much as it’s the bro who thinks he has a chance,” Mr. Grauke said.
Nicole Stock reports on internet culture and other lifestyle news for the Style section of The Times.
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