By Sialea Martinez and Josephine Grey, Staff Writers
Actress Sydney Sweeney faces backlash after appearing in a provocative Novig sports-betting ad that drew criticism for its portrayal of women in sports.
Sydney Sweeney, known for her roles in Euphoria and Anyone But You, has become one of Hollywood’s most recognizable young actresses. In September of 2026, Sweeney appeared in a new advertising campaign for Novig, a sports prediction platform.
The advertisement features Sweeney promoting Novig in a series of provocative poses while wearing revealing athletic clothing. Throughout the commercial, she repeats the line “Just sports,” while explaining the focus of the company on sports predictions.
Novig’s campaign also announced Sweeney as a strategic partner and equity holder in the company, connecting the actress to the brand beyond simply appearing in its advertisement. The commercial quickly gained attention online, turning what began as a promotional campaign into a wider discussion about advertising and the way women are presented in sports-related media.
Being posted prior to the start of football season, this ad gained exceptional attention in a very short amount of time. This extreme recognition was followed by immense backlash, as numerous females, especially athletes, criticized the advertisement as being regressive for women’s sports.
Four-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Ariarne Titmus declared her grievances on Instagram, stating, “I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this. How do we live in a world where monetizing a woman’s body and sexualizing women’s sports is still a thing?”
Throughout history, women have struggled to gain equal representation in athletics. Despite decades of progress since Title IX, which prohibits sex based discrimination in any educational program or activity, women’s sports still receive subordinate social media publicity compared to male counterparts. For several athletes, the frustration is not solely due to the publicly broadcasted nudity, it is with who gets to define how women in sports get to appear.
Sydney Sweeney’s role in Novig’s sports advertisement is not her first gyration in viral controversy. Approximately a year prior, her American Eagle advertisement promoting their denim collection included a play on words—“genes” and “jeans”—resulting in the audience drawing conclusions that it was a promotion of white supremacist ideology and eugenics.
Taken together, public opinion concludes that Sydney Sweeney has become less of a passive face for brands and more an active originator of political controversy. The ad has also coincidingly reopened debates about how women’s bodies are exploited to sell products.