Why Sydney Sweeney Is Selling Her Bathwater: A No-BS Look
Brace yourselves for influencer peak absurdity: Sydney Sweeney is offering bottled bathwater straight from her tub, complete with aroma and flavor notes. In a move that sounds like an April Fool’s prank gone rogue, the Euphoria breakout star quietly launched a pre-order on her website earlier this month, inviting superfans to “feel, smell, and even taste” her post-soak soakage. According to her Instagram Story on May 10, Sweeney teased the limited-edition jars would ship “fresh and fizzy,” and priced them at a cool $35 each—no kidding.
Naturally, the internet lost it. Within hours, Twitter lit up with tweets calling it “the grossest merch drop ever” (BuzzFeed’s Morgan Murrell) and “a new low for celebrity memorabilia” (ET Online). One fan tweeted, “I’d rather buy a brick,” while another begged, “Can we get a refund if it smells like my ex’s cologne?” The official pre-sale page (screen-grabs courtesy of People Magazine) clocked thousands of clicks, though analysts at Insider warn that clicks don’t always equal checkouts.
Before you accuse Sweeney of attention-hunting, she insists it’s a tongue-in-cheek experiment in fandom, inspired by the vintage “Bathwater Barbie” meme from 2019. In a brief statement to People, her team emphasized that proceeds will benefit a mental health charity—hard data that softens the cringe factor, if only slightly. Still, skeptics point out there’s zero regulation on selling bodily-byproduct collectibles, a loophole celebrity reps seem all too keen to exploit (The Hollywood Reporter).
Critics argue this stunt highlights the dangerous opioid of parasocial celebrity culture: if fans will pay for pee-warm water just because it “belongs” to a star, where’s the line? Sales guru Calvin Chan tells The Cut that “this is about creating an impossible-to-replicate experience,” yet wonders if that experience needs to be literally steeped in vanity. Meanwhile, dermatologists caution that bathwater can harbor bacteria, leaving buyers at risk if they actually drink it.
Love it or loathe it, Sweeney’s bathwater bonanza is the latest chapter in the celeb-hype arms race. Will she pivot to selling her hairbrush next? Only time—and her website analytics—will tell. And that’s today’s dose of reality. You’re welcome.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and • BuzzFeed (Morgan Murrell)
• People Magazine
• ET Online
• The Hollywood Reporter
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
