Sydney Sweeney sports ad sparks outrage from female athletes over ‘hyper-sexualized’ campaign

CALGARY — Female athletes are blasting actress Sydney Sweeney over a provocative sports-betting advertisement they say demeans women and undermines years of progress in women’s sports.The campaign for US sports-prediction market Novig features Sweeney nude or minimally clothed while posing with footballs, a tennis racket, a baseball bat and other sporting equipment. One photograph shows the actress lying naked on top of a basketball..A video advertisement posted to Novig’s Instagram account attracted 37 million views within four days, but the attention has been accompanied by fierce criticism from prominent Australian athletes.Professional surfer Felicity Palmateer called the campaign “very damaging” to female athletes and young girls hoping to enter sports.“Just absolute utter disbelief, incredibly disappointing, like, how far you can put women’s sports backwards in the space of a 42-second commercial,” Palmateer told CNN.She said the advertisement relies on “hypersexualized content” rather than celebrating women’s athletic accomplishments.“We want to be valued for what we can do, not what we look like,” Palmateer said.Four-time Australian Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus also condemned the campaign in a post shared through her Instagram stories.“I wasn’t going to share this as I didn’t want to give this any more attention. But I can’t keep my mouth shut,” Titmus wrote, according to CNN affiliate 9News.“I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this.”.Titmus said the campaign was “a kick in the face” to women who have spent their lives developing their athletic abilities and to those who appreciate sports for teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence and unity.Australian swimmer Lani Pallister responded by posting a compilation of footage showing her training and competing.“Don’t know what Sydney thinks sport looks like, but THIS is what sport looks like,” text displayed over the video said..Australian boxer Skye Nicholson posted a similar video criticizing the sexualization of women in sports.“Giving the ad campaign exactly what they wanted, but honestly these companies need to do better,” Nicholson wrote. “Stop sexualising women in sport.”Sweeney appeared to answer the backlash Sunday by sharing photographs from ESPN The Magazine’s annual “Body Issue,” which featured nude or semi-nude athletes during its 11-year run before ending in 2019.The images appeared to draw a comparison between the Novig campaign and ESPN’s past photography, although Sweeney did not directly address the athletes’ criticism.It is not the first time the actress has found herself at the centre of a heated advertising controversy..Sydney Sweeney doubles down with new American Eagle campaign after ‘great jeans’ backlash.Sweeney appeared in an American Eagle campaign during the summer of 2025 that used wordplay involving “jeans” and “genes.” Critics accused the clothing company of promoting eugenics and white supremacist imagery.“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring,” Sweeney said in one advertisement. In another, she said her body’s composition was determined by her genes.Sweeney did not initially respond to the controversy, leaving viewers and critics to debate the campaign’s meaning and her involvement in it.

Sydney Sweeney sports ad sparks outrage from female athletes over ‘hyper-sexualized’ campaign

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