Female athletes, including Olympic champions, have criticized a viral sports betting advertisement featuring U.S. actor Sydney Sweeney, accusing the campaign of sexualizing women’s sports and turning athletic imagery into a marketing gimmick.
The backlash centers on Novig’s “Just Sports” campaign, released Sept. 9 by the U.S. sports prediction-market company. The advertisement features Sweeney wearing little or no clothing, with sports equipment strategically positioned across her body as she mimics tennis, hockey, golf, basketball and American football.
Repeating the word “sports” throughout the commercial, Sweeney ends the advertisement by inviting viewers to test their sports knowledge on Novig’s platform.
The campaign quickly drew tens of millions of views online, but its popularity also sparked a wave of criticism from female athletes across several sports.
Athletes began posting videos and photos of themselves training and competing, often using variations of the message: “This is what a woman in sport looks like.”
Former U.S. gymnast Gracie Kramer was among the first to respond, sharing competition footage on Instagram in a direct contrast to the imagery used in Sweeney’s advertisement.
Olympic swimmer Lani Pallister and sprinters Bree Masters and Amy Hunt later joined the response, posting footage and images highlighting their training, competition and achievements.
The Australian Institute of Sport also entered the conversation, sharing footage of women participating in sports including archery, gymnastics, boxing and softball, alongside images of sports scientists working behind the scenes.
Four-time Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus was particularly blunt in her criticism, describing the campaign as “an absolute joke.”
“I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” Titmus wrote on Instagram, arguing that the advertisement was disrespectful to women who had dedicated their lives to athletic competition.
She said women’s sports represented teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence and unity, questioning why women’s bodies continued to be sexualized as a way of generating revenue.
Australian Olympic water polo medalist Tilly Kearns also shared a compilation of female athletes competing and said she “absolutely” hated the advertisement.
World champion boxer Skye Nicolson drew a distinction between women embracing their appearance and the use of sexuality to market a sports product.
“There’s a big difference between looking ‘sexy’ because you do sport compared to use sex to sell ‘sport’,” Nicolson wrote on Instagram.
She accused the campaign of making a “mockery” of women in sports and overlooking generations of female athletes who had fought for recognition based on their performances.
The controversy has also highlighted Sweeney’s deeper involvement with Novig. She is not merely the face of the campaign. The company announced that she had joined as a strategic partner and equity holder, while Sweeney said she had been involved in creative discussions from the outset.
Speaking to Complex, Sweeney said she did not want to simply lend her name to a company without having a meaningful role in the project.
Novig defended the campaign, saying its purpose was to emphasize that its prediction market focuses exclusively on sports.
The company described the concept as an attempt to approach sports with humor and confidence. Sweeney similarly characterized the campaign as having a “playful edge.”
As criticism intensified, Sweeney appeared to respond indirectly Sunday by sharing previous ESPN Body Issue covers featuring nude or partially clothed male and female athletes.
She did not directly address the athletes who criticized the Novig campaign, nor did she explain whether the images were intended as a defense of the advertisement.
