Sydney Sweeney naked ad controversy: what’s she playing at? - The Latest
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What is the Sydney Sweeney Novig ad and why is it causing controversy?
This is The Guardian.
The level of sexualization is kind of cartoonish. It's more than you would expect from like a Playboy shoot.
You can trade this
for it. And this for it. How about this? It's a sports prediction market. They don't care about representation of women in sport. They care about making money. I think it's fair to say that Tini Sweeney is the same. From the Guardians today
in Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hough. So Sydney Sweeney, the actor that became a big name after her part in Euphoria, that very groundbreaking show, has made headlines, made controversy all over again with another advert. Elle Hunt, you're a Guardian Features writer. What is this advert? Because it is something to behold.
Yes, it's certainly very memorable.
How did female athletes react to the sexualised sports images?
This is a campaign for the sports prediction market Novig, which shows Sydney Sweeney in, I'd say, nearly entirely undressed with various sports paraphernalia, acting
out
sports. In one image, she is sitting on top of a basketball hoop, spinning a basketball on one finger, entirely naked. Right. In another, she is, again, entirely naked, but for some shoulder pads, such as used in American football, with a football covering her groin, another one over her breasts. I think the most clothes she wears is a pair of knickers while playing tennis. So it's extremely sexualized, even by the degree that we're sort of used to seeing these days. And for that reason, it's garnered a lot of instant, immediate attention.
Yes, notably from female sports people and athletes who are infuriated to quote one about this advert, you know, given how much work has been put in in the last few years to change perceptions of female sportsmanship. You know, we've seen a huge change in female football here in the UK. What has some of that reaction been? Because it's not just statements. There is now a sort of online campaign from female sportswomen saying this is what an actual athlete looks like and posting photos of themselves playing sports.
Yes, yeah. I mean, the infuriated quote came from the Olympic swimmer Ariane Titmus, who said that what we're all thinking, which is that this sort of bullshit marketing was a thing of the past.
We've also
had kind of commentary from water polo medalist Tilly Kearns, who said she hated the new sports ad. Champion boxer Skye Nicholson said the ad was about making a mockery of women in sport and
that
sort of thing.
What justification did Sydney Sweeney give for the nude sports campaign?
My favourite quote is from the Female Athlete Project, which said, it's incredible they could fit so much misogyny into 40 seconds.
Yeah, that is a good point. Well made. So how has Sydney Sweeney justified this? Because it's been reported that the CEO of Novig claims that he was approached by her to do this campaign in return for an equity partnership.
Yeah, exactly. This is an extension of her moving away from, well, not moving away from acting, but certainly diversifying her career as an actor with not only brand endorsements, but trying to kind of take a stake in the companies that she promotes. On the acting level as well that she does production credits which means that sort of building her
career in Hollywood. Slash rampant capitalist is not like a hyphenate that we're used to but perhaps we should be getting more used to.
I mean, Sydney Sweeney is defining among the kind of current crop of big name actors for doing a brand deals for really a lot of different things. And often
in
this extremely high profile, controversial way where this would be partly why you would get her to kind of promote your company now because she does things. not only garner so much attention, but seems to be very, very comfortable with doing that. So obviously there's been this backlash to this campaign pretty much instantly. But her own response has been to post on Instagram pictures of female athletes such as Serena Williams posing naked with the inference being there's no commentary she's made around it, but showing that, you know, Actual athletes do pose naked as well, which is quite disingenuous given that that's their choice to appear in that way.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the Sydney Sweeney Novig ad and why is it causing controversy?
0:00–1:01
2
How did female athletes react to the sexualised sports images?
1:01–3:00
3
What justification did Sydney Sweeney give for the nude sports campaign?
3:00–5:00
4
How is the ad linked to Sweeney’s broader brand‑deal and equity strategy?
5:00–6:40
5
Why did Sweeney post Instagram photos of naked female athletes in response?
6:40–8:20
6
What does the discussion reveal about celebrity involvement in prediction markets?
8:20–9:52
7
How do past controversial ads (e.g., American Eagle jeans) shape Sweeney’s reputation?
9:52–11:10
8
What broader cultural commentary does the episode draw about capitalism and women in sport?
11:10–12:15
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Today in Focus
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