Sydney Sweeney at a film premiere in June, 2025. The actress is receiving backlash after she promoted sports betting app Novig in an online ad campaign last week.Scott A Garfitt/The Associated Press
Another advertisement featuring Sydney Sweeney causing controversy? Check.
The actress has found herself in hot water again, after promoting sports betting app Novig in an online ad campaign last Wednesday. The advertisement has sparked outrage from around the globe, with female athletes clapping back against the commercial’s messaging.
What is the ad?
The Novig ad sees the Euphoria actress almost nude, covered only by her hands, hair or various sports equipment, while stating that the app allows users to bet on “just sports.”
“No betting on wars or deaths and no politics,” she says at one point. “Just you, your takes and sports.”
The video has more than 48 million views on the 29-year-old’s Instagram Reels, and another 1.3 million views on Novig’s YouTube channel.
In a press release on Wednesday, Sweeney – who is an equity holder and strategic partner in the company – said the campaign was “embracing a fun idea.”
“The concept is simple: cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports. The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humour and a playful edge.”
The chief executive officer and co-founder of Novig, Jacob Fortinsky, said Sweeney’s appearance in the ad “helped bring that message to life in a way that’s impossible to ignore.”
Novig declined to respond to The Globe’s request for comment. Sweeney has also not directly responded to the criticism.
What has been the response?
Canada’s Molly Carlson celebrates during the medal ceremony of the final of the women’s high diving round 3 & 4 during the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in February, 2024.OLI SCARFF/Getty Images
The campaign has sparked intense social media blowback, including from professional female athletes. Much of the backlash has been directed at Sweeney and Novig’s representation of women in sports and body image, with various posts addressing Sweeney directly.
Hundreds of response videos and photo carousels from athletes have circulated showing “what a women in sports looks like.”
One popular post format showcases the user’s career highlights while British pop star Dua Lipa’s live performance of her song Training Season plays in the background. Former NCAA gymnast Gracie Kramer initiated the trend on Saturday, writing “idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a women in sports looks like.”
In a separate Instagram post, Kramer said that it was “SO much more than sports.”
“This is so much bigger than a moment or a trend,” she wrote. “It’s about inspiring real change in the way women are seen, valued, and represented and reminding the next generation of powerful girls that there is no limit to who they can become.”
Canadian high diver Molly Carlson posted on Instagram how the public should “focus less on how women LOOK and more on what they can DO.”
“There were so many moments I wanted to walk away because I didn’t think I looked like the athlete I was ‘supposed’ to be. … Young girls deserve to grow up seeing female athletes celebrated for their strength, courage, talent and what their bodies are capable of.”
Olympic gold medallists including British cyclist Sophie Capewell and Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus have also responded to the Sweeney ad and Novig’s sexualization of women.
“Imagine a world where sexualised representation isn’t the most popular way of seeing women in sport,” Capewell wrote on Instagram.
British sprinter Amy Hunt, who finished fourth in the 200-metre final at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship on Sunday, directly called out Sweeney after the race.
“Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” Hunt said post-race to BBC Sport.
Hasn’t Sweeney gotten backlash from advertisements before?
The ‘Sydney Sweeney has great jeans’ ad campaign on display at an American Eagle Outfitters store in August, 2025.Ted Shaffrey/The Associated Press
This is Sweeney’s second advertisement in two years that has prompted widespread reaction. The first – for American Eagle in the summer of 2025 – centred on blond-haired, blue-eyed Sweeney having great “jeans,” a play on “genes.”
The campaign faced social-media criticism that it promoted eugenics, but it also helped the company’s shares rise 77 per cent since July, 2025. Revenue jumped 37 per cent in the six months through January, compared with a 24-per-cent rise in the same period a year earlier.
“If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic,” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters last year.
Sweeney didn’t initially respond to the criticism, but noted in a November, 2025, video with GQ magazine that “when I have an issue I want to speak about, people will hear.”
With a report from Reuters
