Female athletes condemn Sydney Sweeney sports betting advert as sexualising women's sport
Olympic and British athletes have criticised a viral Novig commercial featuring Sydney Sweeney, saying it demeans women's sport and reduces female athletes to their bodies.
Female Olympians and other athletes have condemned a viral sports betting advertisement featuring the American actor Sydney Sweeney, accusing the campaign of sexualising women's sport and reducing female competitors to their bodies. The commercial for the sports prediction company Novig was viewed more than 22 million times in its first two days of release, according to the source material.
In the advert, Sweeney's nude body is covered by footballs, basketballs and other sports equipment as she tells users they can bet on «just sports». After repeating the word «sports» nine times, she appears topless on a pool table before saying: «You can't trade this, I just look good here.»
The backlash was led by British sprinter Amy Hunt, who addressed the controversy after running in the 200m final at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest. «Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,» she told the BBC in a post-race interview. Referring to Melissa Jefferson-Wooden's winning time of 21.47 seconds, Hunt added: «21.4. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears. When you're a woman in sport, it's not pretty. It's not glamorous. It's not sexy all the time, definitely.»
Olympic gold medallist Ariadne Titmus also voiced her anger. «I can't describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,» she wrote. «Not only is it a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft, but every woman who enjoys sports for what it really is – teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence, unity. How do we live in a world where monetising a woman's body and sexualising women's sport is still a thing?»
American gymnast Gracie Kramer posted a reel that has since received well over a million likes, writing: «Idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sports looks like.» British athlete Lucy Davis added: «I don't know wtf Sydney Sweeney was doing, but it's 2026…stop sexualising women in sport.»
Sweeney responded to the criticism last week, telling Variety that the campaign was «about embracing a fun idea». She said: «The concept is simple: cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports. The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humour and a playful edge.»
The controversy follows a separate advertising row earlier this summer, when Sweeney fronted a jeans campaign called «Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans». Some social media users alleged that the pun on «jeans» and «genes», combined with the use of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white woman, promoted eugenics and white supremacy. Prominent figures including Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump commented on the campaign amid claims that Sweeney was a registered Republican. Sweeney later said she did not «support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign», telling Cosmopolitan: «It's definitely not a comfortable thing to have people saying what you believe or think, especially when that doesn't align with you.»
The actor has also faced mixed fortunes at the box office in recent months. The sports biopic «Christy», in which she played the titular boxer, became one of the biggest movie flops of all time, while the psychological thriller «The Housemaid» proved a critical and commercial success a few weeks later. Sweeney responded to «Christy»'s failure on Instagram, writing: «We don't always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact.»
The row has renewed a wider debate about how women's sport is marketed and portrayed in advertising, with athletes arguing that campaigns built on sexualised imagery undermine the physical effort and achievement that define their careers.
