Sydney Sweeney Ad Controversy

Sydney Sweeney’s new ad for Novig sparked criticism from the feminist community for over sexualization of female sports. 

Novig is a sports prediction and trading app. It was founded in 2021 by Jacob Fortinsky and Kelechi Ukah while they attended their senior year of Harvard. 

Sweeney is an A list actress, known for projects like Euphoria. She also is widely known for her controversial ads. In a previous ad for American Eagle many say she hinted at eugenics.

Sweeney partnered with Novig to make an ad promoting their app. Sweeney mostly ran the visuals.

"It really was Sydney who's driving a lot of the visuals and the messaging," Fortinsky said. In the ad she was mainly nude. Posing with different sports equipment.

 “Think you know sports? Prove it. And no betting on wars or deaths and no politics. Just you, your takes, and sports," Sweeney said in the ad.

Many were angry because they felt that she was over sexualizing females in sports. Some female athletes spoke out against it on different social media platforms.

 "I've spent my entire life competing in a sport where female athletes have been oversexualized, reduced to our bodies, and forced to fight to be taken seriously for what we can actually do," said American former collegiate gymnast Gracie Kramer. 

Novig defended the ad. They believed the ad was in no way representative of female athletes and that Sydney Sweeney had done an excellent job. 

“As a company we're hugely supportive of women's sports, and it's a huge component of our platform… We never intended to portray female sports. Sydney is an actress, the biggest movie star in the world. We're a prediction market focused on sports. That is the story she was communicating." Fortinsky said.

 Fortinsky also went as far as to say that the hatred received was from predated Sydney Sweeney haters.  "There are a lot of people that have feelings about Sydney as a person that predate this campaign. Working with her, we obviously expected the people who already hate her would be loud and vocal."   

The ad was targeted to an adult audience. Which is what it reached. Due to Novig being 21 or older to use.

“The best hour long ad I’ve ever seen,” user Yaku-x3q commented.

Sydney Sweeney also clapped back with an instagram post of photos of previous sports magazine, ESPN models in nude. Showing that she is not the only one to ever do this. Athletes like Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, and Caroline Wozniacki. 

Despite the criticism, the ad also received positive feedback from many. People defended her, saying her critics are jealous of her body. 

Ultimately Sydney Sweeney and Novig received a lot of backlash and criticism from people who felt the ad was offensive.