By now, you’ve probably seen Sydney Sweeney’s ads for the sports betting app Novig. After all, they’re pretty much inescapable.
In addition to the fact that the company has gone all-in by posting the spots everywhere, the ads have also sparked widespread debate about everything from the ethics of legalized gambling to Sydney’s career choices.
Some of the harshest criticism has come from female athletes who believe that Sydney’s racy campaign has done tremendous damage to the cause of women in sports.
One such critic is British sprinter Amy Hunt, who addressed the controversy after winning the 200-meter dash at a meet in Budapest over the weekend.
“Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” she told the BBC after her race.
Australian surfer Felicity Palmateer echoed those remarks.
“Just absolute utter disbelief, incredibly disappointing, like, how far you can put women’s sports backwards in the space of a 42-second commercial,” she told CNN this week, adding that the campaign “is very damaging, especially for young females getting into sport, for females in sport, for females in general, just hypersexualized content.”
“We want to be valued for what we can do, not what we look like,” Palmateer continued.
Palmateer and Hunt were far from alone in their annoyance. In fact, it seems that Sydney’s latest controversial ad campaign has infuriated female athletes all over the world.
“I wasn’t going to share this as I didn’t want to give this any more attention. But I can’t keep my mouth shut,” Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus wrote on her Instagram Story, according to CNN.
“I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” Titmus continued, adding:
“Not only is this a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft, but every woman who enjoys sports for what it really is — teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence, unity … the list goes on.”
“Don’t know what Sydney thinks sport looks like, but THIS is what sport looks like,” swimmer Lani Pallister wrote on her own page.
You get the point. In general, athletes tend to not be fans of legalized sports betting. And it seems they’re really not fans of using nudity to advertise betting apps.
Sydney is no stranger to controversy, but this is some of the most widespread criticism she’s faced in her career.
Defenders have noted that her partnership with Novig is no mere endorsement deal, and she’s actually a stakeholder in the company.
So the situation might be more empowering than her critics have considered. Either way, Sydney stands to get very rich from the deal, so she might not be too worried about what her haters have to say.
