A provocative new advertising campaign starring Sydney Sweeney has ignited a fierce backlash from female athletes, who accuse the spot of reducing sportswomen to their bodies at a time when they are still fighting for equal recognition and pay.
The American actress fronts the latest commercial for Novig, a sports trading app, appearing almost entirely nude with only pieces of sporting equipment covering her breasts and intimate areas. In the video, which has been viewed millions of times, Sweeney declares: “You think you know sports? Prove it. Novig is only sports. So they wanted to show only sports.”
Athletes Respond With Their Own Images
Within days of the advert’s release, dozens of sportswomen across Instagram and TikTok posted videos of themselves training and competing, reclaiming the narrative with the message: “With respect, this is what women in sport look like.”
Among them was Australian swimmer Brianna Throssell, a double Olympic champion, who filmed herself diving into competition pools and focusing on her training. Gymnast Gracie Kramer and Australian sprinter Bree Masters also joined the trend.
“The word ‘disgust’ is far too weak to describe what I feel,” wrote triathlete Mathilde Tily, noting that female athletes “are still fighting to obtain the same recognition, the same prize money.” She added that women make up only 18 percent of competitors on an Ironman triathlon start line, lamenting the image projected by the campaign when other sportswomen “strive to gain visibility, to represent women and little girls so they dare to take the first step.”
‘This Objectification Does Nothing to Support Women’
The Australian platform The Female Athlete Project condemned the campaign in a social media post, arguing that the sports world has long treated women’s bodies as merchandise.
- The campaign features Sweeney wearing equipment from various sports in turn.
- Additional photos shared on her Instagram account crop only certain parts of her body.
- Sweeney is herself a shareholder in Novig, according to US media reports.
- The actress has compared the shoot to American athletes who once graced the covers of ESPN’s famed Body Issue.
“This objectification does nothing to support real women in sport,” the platform wrote.
A Long-Running Fight for Visibility
The controversy lands amid a broader reckoning over how female athletes are portrayed in advertising and media. Critics argue that campaigns built on nudity and sexualised imagery reinforce stereotypes that sportswomen have spent decades trying to dismantle, and risk overshadowing genuine gains in participation, sponsorship and pay.
Neither Novig nor Sweeney has issued a formal response to the criticism, though the actress has defended the concept by framing it as a playful nod to the tradition of athletes posing nude for sports photography.
