Sydney Sweeney's latest commercial has landed her in another controversy, this time over a sports betting advertisement that Olympic and professional female athletes say sexualizes women's sport.
The Euphoria star appears in a new ad for Novig, a sports trading app, largely nude with parts of her body concealed by sporting equipment including footballs, tennis rackets and basketball hoops. The campaign, which launched last week, quickly drew criticism from athletes who took to social media over the weekend to voice their objections.
British athlete Lucy Davis wrote that she did not understand what Sweeney was doing in the ad, adding that it is time to stop sexualizing women in sport. Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus shared similar concerns, writing that she could not describe how infuriated she felt watching the commercial. Titmus said the ad was a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft, as well as to every woman who enjoys sports for what it really is — teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence and unity. She questioned how the world still monetizes a woman's body and sexualizes women's sport.
American gymnast Gracie Kramer also weighed in, writing that she did not know what Sweeney was doing but that this is what a woman in sports looks like, alongside a reel that has since received well over a million likes. British sprinter Amy Hunt addressed the controversy after running in the 200m final at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest, telling the BBC in a post-race interview that this is what women in sport look like. Referring to Melissa Jefferson-Wooden's winning time of 21.47 seconds, Hunt added that the reality of being a woman in sport involves muscles, hard work, blood, sweat and tears, and that it is not pretty, glamorous or sexy all the time.
Responding to the campaign last week, Sweeney said the campaign was about embracing a fun idea. She described the concept as simple: cutting through the noise and putting the focus entirely on sports. According to Sweeney, the campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humor and a playful edge.
The Novig ad is not the first commercial from Sweeney to generate widespread debate. Earlier this summer, she fronted a jeans advertisement called «Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.» Some social media users alleged that the pun on «jeans» and «genes,» combined with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white woman, promoted eugenics and white supremacy. A number of prominent figures, including Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump, shared their own views on the campaign amid claims that Sweeney was a registered Republican.
Sweeney initially did not respond, but later said she did not support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign. Speaking to Cosmopolitan, she said it was not comfortable to have people saying what she believes or thinks, especially when that does not align with her. She described it as a weird thing to navigate and digest because it is not her, adding that she is online and sees things but is slowly pulling herself away, and that it had gone to a level that is not healthy for her to digest.
Beyond the advertising controversies, Sweeney has had mixed success 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 box office failure on Instagram, writing that they do not always make art for numbers but for impact.