When a sports campaign becomes more talked about for the person in it than the sport itself, it is probably doing something very different from a conventional advertisement. Sydney Sweeney's latest campaign has achieved exactly that, although not without controversy. What began as a promotional film for a sports prediction platform has now become a wider discussion about how women and women's sport are represented in advertising.
The campaign features Sweeney recreating different sports while wearing little to no clothing, using equipment such as footballs, tennis rackets, hockey sticks and basketballs to cover herself. The actress repeatedly refers to “sports” in the ad before turning to the camera and saying, “You can't trade this, I just look good here.” The campaign is for Novig, a sports prediction platform in which Sweeney is also a strategic partner and equity holder.
Sweeney has since defended the campaign, describing it as a “fun idea” intended to cut through the noise and put the focus on sports, with humour and a playful edge. She also appeared to respond to the criticism by sharing images from ESPN's Body Issue, which has featured nude photographs of athletes including Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey and Megan Rapinoe.
The response from female athletes, however, has taken the conversation in another direction. Four-time Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus described the advertisement as “a kick in the face” to women who have dedicated themselves to their sport. She questioned why women's bodies continue to be monetised and women's sport sexualised, while emphasising values such as teamwork, dedication, excellence and unity.
Former UCLA gymnast Gracie Kramer was among the first athletes to respond, posting footage of herself performing gymnastics with the message, “this is what a woman in sport looks like.” Her post was followed by similar responses from athletes across disciplines, turning the backlash into an opportunity to showcase training, competition and athletic achievement instead.
The criticism has also spread across Australian women's sport. Olympic cyclist Sophie Capewell, swimmer Lani Pallister, water polo player Tilly Kearns and Hockeyroos goalkeeper Joc Bartram were among those who criticised the campaign or shared their own sporting achievements in response. Capewell stressed that the issue was not about Sweeney's autonomy, but about the continuing tendency to objectify women in sport.
The advertisement has also drawn attention because Novig is a sports betting platform. Australian former Olympic athlete and politician Zali Steggall criticised what she described as overt sexualisation being used to attract young men to gambling, while other critics have focused primarily on the way the campaign represents women in a sporting context.
At the same time, the controversy has generated considerable visibility for the relatively little-known company. The ad had crossed tens of millions of views within days, while Sweeney reportedly lost more than 200,000 Instagram followers amid the backlash. The campaign has therefore succeeded in generating exactly the kind of attention that provocative advertising often seeks, even as its creative approach remains divisive.
For Sweeney, this is also not the first time an endorsement has triggered a larger debate. Her 2025 American Eagle campaign drew criticism over its “great jeans” tagline and accusations that it invoked ideas about genetic superiority. That controversy similarly pushed an advertising campaign into a broader cultural conversation around Sweeney herself.
The latest controversy, however, has shifted the focus towards women's sport itself. While Sweeney's response points to examples of professional athletes who have also posed nude for magazines, the athletes criticising her campaign argue that the context is different when an advertisement uses a woman's body to sell a sports-related product. The debate now sits somewhere between questions of individual choice, advertising strategy and how female athleticism is presented to audiences.