Sydney Sweeney under fire for new sporting advert
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What is the controversial Sydney Sweeney betting advert and why did it spark outrage?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
Now we move to an ad which has caused huge controversy. Sydney Sweeney has come under fire for featuring in this advert for a betting company. And in the ad, she is naked or almost naked in some of the shots. The campaign is for US sports prediction market company Novig. It depicts her in minimal to no clothing while she pretends to play tennis. Several different sports and athletes have widely criticised the ad for sexualising women's sport. I'm joined now by Anna Kaplis, who is former Irish rugby player and commentator, and Maeve de Berke, former Ireland football player and pundit. And you're both welcome. This has been huge online over the weekend. Anna, if I start with you, what did you think of the ad, first of all?
Yeah, it's funny that the controversy just kind of exploded because I never would have come across this ad otherwise. And I think it's important to state that this is an ad for a gambling company, which have restrictions around how they advertise. So they went for something controversial. So they're looking for reshares, people to talk about it. So they've actually... you know, presumably achieved what they set out to do, which was have people watch this ad. I think it got like 13 million views in one day because basically, you know, we've seen how women's sport is rising and female athletes are having more of a platform. So the controversy has come because This isn't normal anymore to see. I think a few years ago, there wouldn't be so much of a question around this.
But now this is people can see how wrong this is, that this is how a woman is talking about sports. She's like visualized as like someone who knows about sports. And considering the recent weeks that we've had in Irish sport, all kicking off with Katie Taylor in Cork Park a few weeks ago. And then, you know, the conversation controversy around sports. You know, the equitable representation in the GAA, things like this, like what a crazy couple of weeks we've had in Ireland for sport. But if this is the image that is being presented of women in sport, it's not right. It has to be shut down, rightly so, like it has for a lot of my people that I'm connected with online saying that this is, you know, this is not right.
This is what real women in sport look like. that image has to change. If we are looking for, and this isn't just a GAA thing, but across the board in sport, more women on boards, more women being taken seriously when they talk about sport, an image like that cannot be It cannot be the residing image of women in sport. And there's a million ways to kind of talk about it. So I hope I'm able to, you know, do it justice here now in our conversation this morning.
You know what?
And
it might be useful for us to just have a listen to the ad. I know you don't get the visual, but I think people can imagine now from what we have described that it's very provocative. It's very sexy. You know, Sydney Sweeney known for her, her beauty. And she is in this ad saying this. Sports, sports, sports, sports, sports, sports, sports, sports.
Think you know
sports? Prove it. So Maeve, to come to you, you saw the ad clearly. Did it make you angry?
Yeah, it made me, I suppose, Sydney, Sweden herself, like I said, she is known for beauty, but she's no stranger to controversy herself. I know even last year she was involved with
How did Anna Kaplis react to the ad and what concerns did she raise about women in sport?
the American Eagles Jeans campaign. And there was a backlash from that as well, criticised really by a lot of people. It was kind of seen to be racially loaded and overly sexualised as well. So I think, as Anna said, they're like Novik, the company have achieved their goal and that they've now, you know, it is deliberately an attention seeking, grabbing marketing campaign. And Sydney herself has over 25 million followers on Instagram. So they have definitely from that regard achieved their goal but um yeah it's not something I think um yeah nice to see I suppose but on the flip side we have seen other I suppose even male athletes in the past the likes of Beckham Ronaldo they have been posing in underwear too and you know making the few bobs themselves from from imposed uh on on billboards as well but
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