Novig’s Sydney Sweeney campaign triggers criticism over portrayal of women’s sport

Novig’s first national campaign starring Sydney Sweeney, titled “Just Sports,” drew sharp criticism after its Sept. 9 launch, with female athletes and commentators saying its sexualised imagery objectified women’s sport.

The video shows Sweeney posed nude or scantily clad in sporting settings, including atop a basketball hoop and inside a hockey goal, with equipment strategically covering her body. Northeastern University described the backlash as spanning social media, traditional media, female athletes and marketing professionals.

Novig markets itself as a nationwide, sports-only prediction market. Its campaign page says it offers no markets on “war,” “death” or “politics,” requires participants to be at least 21 and advises them to trade responsibly.

The company’s chief executive, Jacob Fortinsky, said Sweeney was “driving a lot of the visuals and the messaging.” He said Novig supported women’s sports but had not intended the advertisement to portray female sport, describing its focus as the company’s sports-only prediction-market business.

That distinction did not satisfy several prominent athletes. Olympic athlete Ariarne Titmus called the advertisement “a kick in the face” to women who had devoted their lives to sport. Sprinter Amy Hunt, after finishing fourth in the 200 metres at the Ultimate Championships, responded by highlighting the “muscles,” hard work, blood, sweat and tears of women’s sport.

Gymnast Gracie Kramer posted footage of herself competing, writing: “idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sports looks like.” International rugby player Sofie Fella called the campaign disrespectful to those who had worked to separate women’s athletic participation from social expectations of their appearance.

Skye Nicolson argued that the criticism was not about policing women’s looks. Rather, she said, it concerned the difference between looking sexy while doing sport and using sex to sell sport. Other athletes, including Lani Pallister and Bree Rizzo, and the Australian Institute of Sport responded with material celebrating women’s training, competition, careers and sports science.

Northeastern communication professor Stephen Warren said the advert appeared constructed to go viral through provocative material and reinforced traditional sexual stereotypes in sport. Psychology professor Rachel Rodgers said the juxtaposition of sports imagery and Sweeney’s posing made her seem to be presented as a reward rather than as someone mastering a sport.

Sweeney responded to criticism by posting an Instagram Story that paired an image from the advert with photographs from ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue,” which has featured nude and semi-nude athletes. The critics interviewed by Northeastern distinguished that kind of athlete-centred imagery from what Warren called the Novig spot’s celebration of male voyeurism.

The campaign nevertheless generated substantial attention. Fortune reported that the video attracted tens of millions of views across X and Instagram, while Sweeney’s Novig post received more than 1.2 million Instagram likes. The company did not disclose the size or terms of Sweeney’s ownership stake, but said she was a strategic partner and equity holder rather than simply the campaign’s face.

Sweeney had approached Novig seeking an equity partnership, and helped shape the music, camera angles, shot coverage and script. Brand strategist Shruti Saini described her as a “competitive weapon” who had placed Novig, valued at roughly $500 million, into the same cultural conversation as far larger prediction-market rival Polymarket.

The campaign arrived as prediction-market operators were using extensive advertising and seeking celebrity endorsements to build familiarity and user growth. These markets let users trade contracts tied to future events, usually through “yes” and “no” positions whose prices reflect the market’s assessment of probability. Sports became their most popular category in the United States, though the industry remains in litigation over whether such contracts are gambling or federally regulated financial products.