Paris (France) (AFP) – Actor Sydney Sweeney has been condemned by leading women athletes for a sports betting advert in which the American appears in various states of undress
Sweeney, who starred in TV series “Euphoria”, has been accused of sexualising women’s sport after posing with sports equipment in the commercial for US company Novig, which allows users to predict the outcome of sports matches. The 29-year-old has an equity stake in the firm.
Four-time Olympic gold medallist swimmer Ariarne Titmus said she thought the marketing tactic belonged to the past.
“I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” Titmus wrote on Instagram.
“Not only is it a kick in the face to every woman who had dedicated her life to perfecting her craft, but every women who enjoys sports for what it really is – teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellent, unity…”
“How do we live in a world where monetising a women’s body and sexualising women’s sport is still a thing?” the Australian added.
Several leading track and field athletes competing at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest last weekend expressed their consternation at Sweeney’s commercial, saying it was a misleading representation of how women in sport looked.
Having finished fourth behind US sprinter Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s winning time of 21.47sec in the 200 metres, the fourth fastest ever, British athlete Amy Hunt said in a BBC TV interview: “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like. 21.4. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears.”
She added: “When you’re a woman in sport, it’s not pretty. It’s not glamorous. It’s not sexy all the time, definitely.”
Many athletes have posted videos of themselves, grouped around the message “this is what sport looks like”.
US gymnast Gracie Kramer captioned her post, featuring her performing gymnastic routines and training in a variety of other sports, with the message: “idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sport looks like.”
The outrage around the campaign echoes that provoked by American Eagle’s “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” campaign in 2025.
The campaign attracted heavy criticism for appearing to employ the language of eugenics, with Sweeney saying in a video that has since been deleted: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality, and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.”
Sweeney later acknowledged that by failing to comment on the furore, it had only “widened the divide”.
She added: “I was honestly surprised by the reaction. I’m against hate and divisiveness.”
Against hate and divisiveness? Is that why the MAGAt morons just love you??? Fuck off.
The rage reactions to it are stupid. Nowhere in the ad was she “sexualizing women’s sports”.
It’s a sports gambling app ad, using sex to sell to men, who are the VAST majority of sports bettors. It has virtually nothing to do with women’s sports at all.
It’s a cringey ad aimed at the lowest common denominator male, but that’s about it.
It’s a sports gambling app ad, using sex to sell to men, who are the VAST majority of sports bettors. It has virtually nothing to do with women’s sports at all.
I think it is related quite closely, the ad depicts a woman, clearly overtly sexualized, in the same settings and with the same equipment as those who participate in sports. It is targeting the same “tastes and sensibilities” (in the grossest possible sense) as requiring women athletes to wear shorter clothing or other similar practices. IMO it’s a pretty good opportunity to protest those strongly related practices now.
Although the outrage aimed at the actress is clearly misdirected, it should instead target those who benefit from women’s exploitation.
I’m wondering if they’re astroturfing the drama
Guarantee she saw all the publicity her American Eagle ad got and they’re trying to milk this similarly.
I think the drama is real, but baited. And people are playing right into it.
Exactly. Their demographic are the people who are constantly sexualizing women.
Wish Sweeney would grow up and make some better decisions soon, though.
Her entire career is sexualizing herself and using her sex appeal. I don’t think she’s gonna change that until she stops making millions of dollars from it.
Nor do I think using sex to sell is gonna change any time soon. That’s not the worst part of it though. It’s just a bad ad. It’s extremely low effort and doesn’t even have any imagination. It’s just “sex sex sex buy our stuff sex sex sex”.
There’s a fairly significant portion of women within women’s sports that don’t want them to grow, or at least only within their specific terms of growth. Anything that doesn’t exactly match their views is seen as an attack.
Only place I could find it was on Reddit (google video search is broken) https://www.reddit.com/r/MoralityScaling/comments/1wc2gje/morality_of_sydney_sweeneys_sexualized_new/
So it’s for gambling which I hate and it’s clearly going for the lowest demographic here (at one time, she literally just repeats the word sport about 12 times).
It’s pathetic but I don’t know what else people are expecting out of her or sports gambling at this point. It kind of seems on par with her. At this point, I’m fairly certain she just sees the rage as advertisement.
“It was a thirty second interview, and he said “y’know” FIFTEEN TIMES! We don’t know! If we knew, we’d pass right on by you!” - Jerry Clower
All I could think of when she kept saying “sports”
the girl who did a Nazi ad for American Eagle did a thing that sucked again? huh.
i’ve been looking into this and it turns out that sidney sweeney is attractive and has large tits. additional research may yield further insights as initial results are promising
I truly do not understand the obsession with Sydney Sweeney. She has big tits but so do millions of other women, hers are not special. And she is ugly. Why are people obsessing with her?
Or is it that she is willing to show her tits so people take what they can?
women hate servies but sweeney caters to them, simple as
US company Novig, which allows users to predict the outcome of sports matches
A “prediction market” app for sports called No…vig?
So blatant sports betting without any of that pesky regulation.
Does anyone know of novig uses an original tune in the advert or if it is perhaps an existing song instead? Kind of funky, so if it’s an existing tune I wanna look into it
ofc Sweeney sold out to big gambling
Apparently she bought in. She owns equity in the gambling company.
“I’m against hate and divisiveness” really sounds like a code phrase.
Rich people shilling for (anything) gambling is offensive. Just sell the nudes themselves like honest business.
I think the BEST resource is just ignore that hoe
Sydney Sweeney condemned by other women for “sexualization”? Must be a day that ends in “y”.
“How do we live in a world where monetising a women’s body … is still a thing?”
Are you aware of what sports are? Are you aware of modeling?
“Feminists” fighting against the sexual liberation of women as usual.
I wouldn’t exactly call the use of a woman’s body as a sex object to sell gambling services liberation
Are you saying she shouldn’t have that choice?
No, I don’t think advertising in any semblance to its current form should be legal at all. Or these gambling companies.
When it comes to women abasing ourselves for financial security, I don’t think our society should be structured to necessitate this.
This is not to say we shouldn’t have the right to get naked or be sexual. (fucking duh)
But go off with “turning every woman into a pornographic object is empowering” I guess.
I think she’s doing just fine without the advertising money, and if she’s not, I don’t think making a huge deal out of how she makes ends meet is very feminist of anybody.
I’m going to be charitable and assume you literally did not read or consider what I said
Same to you.
I’m not really into pro sports beyond the odd community bandwagon, and I loathe gambling. I do however like pretty women like Sweeney naked, or mostly so. It’s the only redeemable part of this fake controversy.
