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Drew Weisholtz
Sydney Sweeney’s attention-getting ad for sports trading company Novig is stirring controversy and debate as she appears almost entirely nude for much of the one-minute spot.
The “Euphoria” star, 29, headlined an ad campaign tied to the new football season. In it, she’s mostly naked and covers her private areas with sports gear in lieu of clothes, save for a few moments when she wears underwear bottoms.
As the camera pans across her figure, she explains that Novig is “just sports. … No betting on wars or deaths, and no politics. Just you and your take on sports.”
The ad has prompted some backlash, especially from female athletes, who say that it sexualizes women in sports and excessively leans into the male gaze.
Editor’s note: The below ad may be considered “not safe for work.”
Sweeney and Novig did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment on Sunday. However, the actor did share her thoughts on the campaign at the time of its launch, as did Novig co-founder and CEO Jacob Fortinsky.
“Ahead of football season, Sydney Sweeney is putting the focus exactly where it belongs, on ‘Just Sports,’” a press release from Novig explained about the ad, released Sept. 9.
“Today, we at Novig unveiled our first national brand campaign featuring Sweeney, bringing to life our belief that the best sports trading experience comes from a platform singularly focused on sports.”
The statement also said Sweeney has joined Novig as a strategic partner and equity holder.
“The campaign was about embracing a fun idea,” Sweeney said in a press release. “The concept is simple: cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports. The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humor and a playful edge.”
Fortinsky added: “There are many places where people can engage with prediction markets across different categories. Our focus is sports, and by dedicating ourselves entirely to sports, we have built a better experience for fans. Sydney helped bring that message to life in a way that’s impossible to ignore.”
Fortinsky told Front Office Sports after the ad was released that Sweeney is “savvy” and approached Novig about a partnership.
“Sydney’s great at captivating audiences and really being the center of attention. In some sense, it forces us into the national discourse,” he said.
“We did a lot of market research, but the truth is, at some point, you just have to make a bet on how you’re going to introduce your brand,” Fortinsky continued. “We felt this was a way that was playful and light, but also sort of positioned us as taking sports more seriously and trying to conduct ourselves with responsibility and integrity.”
Numerous female athletes from a range of sports backgrounds have criticized the ad.
“Idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing but this is what a woman in sports looks like,” gymnast Gracie Kramer wrote over clips of her competing on Instagram.
Kramer also told NBC News in an interview that she believes the issue is “so much bigger” than Sweeney.
“When sexualization is used as a way to get men interested in women’s sports, it reinforces the exact narrative we’ve been trying to dismantle,” Kramer said. “This isn’t celebrity drama to me. It’s about the culture we’re creating for the next generation of girls in sports and making sure they grow up believing their talent is enough to deserve attention and respect.”
She added: “Seeing so many women and athletes join the conversation has been incredibly empowering because it feels like this has become about something much bigger than one ad.”
In a TikTok, Canadian skier and 2026 Olympian Cassidy Gray emphasized that, because so many women and girls in sports are still discriminated against, the impact of the ad “is that deep.”
She also called it “senseless” and “idiotic,” and accused the campaign of “completely wiping away” efforts for female athletes to be taken more seriously.
“I think it was in (Sweeney’s) head probably some funny joke, but it’s not a joke when your life is actually you being a female athlete and being like sexualized or not taken seriously or not given the same opportunities,” Gray said.
Australian water polo player and Olympic silver medalist Tilly Kearns posted on her Instagram that she “absolutely f-ing (hates) Sydney Sweeney’s new sports ad.”
“Like what are we doing … so much worse than I imagined too,” she added in the caption, in part.
Olympic track and field athlete Bree Masters shared videos of her training and competing with a message for the actor alongside the post. “Respectfully Sydney Sweeney… This is what women in sports really look like,” she wrote.
The Female Athlete Project, an Australian platform for women in sports created by Olympic gold medallist Chloe Dalton, blasted the campaign while also sharing clips of female athletes.
“There are so many versions of women in sport, and Novig’s new ad with Sydney Sweeney does nothing to genuinely represent or support them,” it wrote in part, while lamenting how Novig and the actor “could fit so much misogyny in 40 seconds.”
Runner Mary McCarthy also shared videos of herself training.
“EW WHAT A SET BACK That Sydney Sweeney video had my jaw on the floor 🤮,” she captioned her clips. “We do not need to sexualize women in sport.”
“Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” British runner Amy Hunt told the BBC after she finished fourth in the 200 meter final at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Sept. 13.
“I don’t know wtf Sydney Sweeney was doing, but it’s 2026. Stop sexualizing women in sport,” British athlete and former swimmer Lucy Davis wrote on Instagram.
As criticism of the ad picked up over the weekend, Sweeney appeared to defend it on her Instagram stories.
On Sunday, she posted a nude image of herself from the ad alongside several ESPN photoshoots of famous athletes over the years posing without clothes — including Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, Caroline Wozniacki, Myles Garrett, Rob Gronkowski, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jason Kelce.
On the day the ad was released, Sweeney told Complex the campaign is “a very simple and playful idea” with the goal of “really bring the concept of ‘just sports’ to life.”
“I’ve always believed that the best partnerships are the ones where everyone’s getting to collaborate,” she said. “I don’t like to just put my face on something. I really want to be able to get into the weeds of it with an amazing team. And I got to meet the Novig team. Jacob’s incredible, and I believed in him as a founder. Being able to be a part of watching this company grow and not just be the face of it is really important to me.”
Sweeney is no stranger to ads that cause controversy. In 2025, she appeared in an American Eagle campaign with the slogan, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” a play on the words “genes” and “jeans,” which sparked outrage among some critics who felt it promoted eugenics and white supremacy.
Responding months later, Sweeney said she didn’t expect the backlash.
“I did a jean ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life,” she told GQ in November 2025.
“I kind of just put my phone away,” she said. “I was filming every day. I’m filming ‘Euphoria,’ so I’m working 16-hour days and I don’t really bring my phone on set, so I work and then I go home and I go to sleep. So I didn’t really see a lot of it.”
Asked if she wanted to address to the race-related criticism, she answered, “I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.”
Drew Weisholtz is a reporter for TODAY Digital, focusing on pop culture, nostalgia and trending stories. He has seen every episode of “Saved by the Bell” at least 50 times, longs to perfect the crane kick from “The Karate Kid” and performs stand-up comedy, while also cheering on the New York Yankees and New York Giants. A graduate of Rutgers University, he is the married father of two kids who believe he is ridiculous.
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