President Trump comments on the Sydney Sweeney controversy

The actress and model Sydney Sweeney attended a special screening of her film, Americana, in Los Angeles last Sunday. This was her first public appearance since the American Eagle denim controversy dominated headlines in recent weeks.

As People reports, the ad campaign, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” prompted critics “to claim that the usage of the word ‘jeans’ as a play on ‘genes’ is racially charged and hints at genetic superiority.” Others tied the ad to Brooke Shields’ controversial 1980 denim campaign, which was staged when the actress was fifteen years old.

The story gained even greater exposure on Sunday when President Trump, upon learning that Sweeney is a registered Republican, called her ad campaign “fantastic.” Shares of American Eagle surged more than 15 percent on Monday after the president’s comments.

While many are speaking to the political, demographic, and gender issues being raised by the campaign and its cultural impact, there’s a more foundational issue at work that we overlook at our peril.

When and why sexual advertising works

One of the earliest ads to use a woman’s body as a marketing technique came from a company called Pearl Tobacco, which included a woman’s naked torso on its packaging in 1871. When the imagery created a buzz, other companies started embracing sexual imagery as a sales tactic.

A study by the University of Georgia looked at sexually suggestive ads in magazines over a thirty-year period. According to one of the study’s researchers, “Sex sells because it attracts attention. People are hardwired to notice sexually relevant information, so ads with sexual content get noticed.”

Sexual advertising is also effective when tied to products related to sexuality. Body spray, colognes, perfumes, and some types of clothing can see increased sales through such advertising.

However, using sex where it doesn’t fit may attract attention, but does not increase sales. Sexual marketing for banking services, appliances, and utility trucks is ineffective, for example. Computers and tech companies seldom use sexual advertising since they want to promote themselves as effective and reliable.

How to “flee from sexual immorality”

Here’s the foundational issue behind all of this: sexual advertising works when it works because humans are fallen and sinful.

God created sex for marriage and reproduction within marriage (Genesis 2:18–25). In every other context, sexual thoughts and actions are violations of his word and will for us:

• “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
• “All that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16).
• “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:14–15).

The solution is simple: “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

How?

First of all, “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18) and “make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14). In its place, “Pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22).

Choose right now to reserve sexual thoughts and actions only for marriage: “Let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4). Make this commitment daily: “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1).

Then, when we are tempted, turn the temptation immediately over to God, asking him for the strength to resist and the power to triumph over it. This is a prayer he is always able to answer: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

In these ways, we “know how to control [our] own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thessalonians 4:4–5).

A strange plumbing problem in our home

Take a moment to imagine a world free from lust and sexual sin. What would be the consequences with regard to pornography, sex trafficking, premarital sex, adultery, divorce, and abortion?

A counselor friend once taught me that Satan is a great economist. He loves to use one strategy to tempt as many people as possible and one sin to devastate as many people as possible.

Is sexual sin not Exhibit A? This one sin is a rock so large that when it is thrown into the “lake” of our souls, the ripples touch every shore.

Consider an analogy.

We recently had a strange plumbing problem in our home: when we turned on the cold water, hot water came out. It turned out that a valve in a shower needed to be replaced. Because it was broken, it affected every faucet on the rest of the plumbing circuit throughout the house.

Sin works this way. Disobedience in one area hinders the power of the Holy Spirit in every area of our lives. This is unapparent to us, however, since we live in a Western culture that segments the spiritual from the secular. We assume we can sin “privately” without public consequences, but the Bible warns, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

We think sin in one area can be compartmentalized from the other areas of our lives like rooms in a house, but this is not true. If you shut off the water to your house at the street, every faucet and shower is affected. So it is with our souls.

Sexual sin is especially devastating in this way. Because it typically begins with thoughts or acts that the public does not see, we think we can close the door to that “room” without affecting the rest of the house. But as every minister who has lost their ministry due to sexual sin can testify, this is a lie.

The only way to “triumph over sin”

The antidote is to submit daily to God’s Spirit, asking him to create such a love for God in our hearts that we love our Lord more than we love our sin. John Piper noted: “I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than to gain a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction in God.”

To this end, let’s close with this good news:

“God desires to reveal to us that his capacity to forgive is bigger than our capacity to sin” (AW Tozer).

Why is this fact good news for you today?