Actress Sydney Sweeney's recent advertisement for the sports trading app Novig has drawn criticism from several female athletes who argue the campaign sexualizes women's sports. The ad features Sweeney posing with strategically placed sports equipment covering her body.
Australian Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ariarne Titmus expressed her frustration on Instagram, questioning the ad's monetization of a woman's body and the sexualization of women's sports. "How do we live in a world where monetizing a woman’s body and sexualizing women’s sport is still a thing?" Titmus wrote.
British sprinter Amy Hunt also commented on the ad after a race, stating, "Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like. Muscles, hard work, sweat, blood, tears." Former American gymnast Gracie Kramer echoed these sentiments, writing on Instagram that she has spent her life competing in a sport where female athletes are "oversexualized, reduced to our bodies, and forced to fight to be taken seriously for what we can actually do."
In response to the backlash, Sweeney appeared to address the criticism by sharing images from ESPN magazine featuring nude athletes such as Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, and Caroline Wozniacki. The ad's tagline states, "Think you know sports? Prove it. Novig is just sports. So, they wanted a show."
This is not the first time Sweeney has faced scrutiny for an advertising campaign. Last year, she was criticized for her collaboration with American Eagle for their fall clothing campaign.
Fox News Digital and OutKick have reached out to Sweeney's representatives and Novig, respectively, for comment.