Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky has addressed the controversy surrounding a nude advertisement featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, stating the campaign was not intended to represent female athletes. The ad has drawn criticism from female athletes who accused the campaign of sexualizing women and misrepresenting their relationship with sports.
Fortinsky clarified the advertisement's purpose during Front Office Sports' Asset Class conference. He explained that the one-minute commercial, which shows Sweeney minimally covered by sports equipment, was meant to emphasize Novig's focus on sports-related predictions.
"As a company, we’re hugely supportive of women’s sports," Fortinsky said. "We never intended to portray female sports."
He further stated, "Sydney’s an actress. We’re a prediction market that is focused on sports, and that was the story she was communicating."
However, athletes such as British sprinter Amy Hunt, Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns, and former UCLA gymnast Gracie Kramer have voiced their disapproval. They interpreted the ad differently, with some posting training videos to counter the imagery and argue that it reduced women's connection to sports to their physical appearance.
Fortinsky also revealed that Sweeney played a significant role in the campaign's creative development. "It really was Sydney who’s driving a lot of the visuals and the messaging," he said.
Sweeney approached Novig about the collaboration and became an equity partner, giving her a financial stake in the campaign's outcome. The advertisement has generated considerable attention, accumulating over 40 million Instagram views and significantly increasing searches for Novig.
In response to the criticism, Sweeney shared images of prominent athletes who had posed nude or semi-nude for ESPN's Body Issue on Instagram. Although Sweeney reportedly lost over 200,000 Instagram followers in the days following the ad's release, this represented a small fraction of her overall audience.
Novig plans further campaigns with Sweeney, indicating a willingness to navigate the controversy as a means of engaging in national discourse.