Female Athletes Slam "Hypersexualized" Sydney Sweeney Ad for Sports-Betting Platform

A new advertising campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney posing nude or barely clothed with sports equipment has sparked backlash from female athletes, who say it undermines decades of progress in women's sports. The campaign, produced for US sports-prediction platform Novig, shows Sweeney naked or minimally dressed while holding footballs, a tennis racket, and a baseball bat. One image shows her lying nude on top of a basketball. Photos and videos from the campaign were released Wednesday, and an accompanying Instagram reel has drawn 37 million views in four days. Athletes Call the Campaign "Damaging" Australian surfer Felicity Palmateer was among the first to speak out, telling CNN the ad sets back the image of women in sport dramatically in under a minute of footage. She said the hypersexualized content is especially harmful for young girls considering getting involved in athletics, adding that female athletes want to be recognized for their skill, not their appearance. Four-time Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus also responded, posting to her Instagram stories despite initially wanting to avoid drawing more attention to the ad. She said watching the campaign left her infuriated, calling it an insult not just to women who've built careers around athletic excellence, but to anyone who values sport for its emphasis on teamwork, dedication, and camaraderie. Fellow Australian swimmer Lani Pallister pushed back with a video montage of her own training and competition footage, captioned with a message contrasting her reality with the ad's depiction of sport. Boxer Skye Nicholson posted a similar response, criticizing the ad for playing into the exact reaction the brand was likely hoping to generate, while calling on companies to stop sexualizing female athletes. Sweeney's Response Sweeney addressed the backlash indirectly on Sunday, sharing a series of photos from ESPN The Magazine's "Body Issue," an annual feature that ran for 11 years through 2019 and included athletes posing nude or semi-nude. Not Sweeney's First Ad Controversy This isn't the first time Sweeney's advertising work has drawn criticism. In summer 2025, she appeared in a campaign for American Eagle that some viewers accused of invoking eugenics-linked rhetoric, after lines referencing genetics and inherited traits appeared in the ads. At the time, Sweeney did not immediately respond to the criticism. She eventually addressed it in a November interview with GQ, saying she was surprised by the reaction but stopping short of an apology. She reaffirmed her enthusiasm for the product and said she wasn't interested in telling people what to think, adding in a widely shared remark that when she wants to speak on an issue, people will know.