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- Australian Olympians, including Ariarne Titmus, Lani Pallister and Tilly Kearns, have criticised Sydney Sweeney’s new “Just Sports” campaign for Novig.
- Athletes argue the ad’s sexualised sporting imagery undermines efforts to have women recognised for their performance rather than their bodies.
- Sweeney is a strategic partner and equity holder in Novig, describing the campaign at launch as a playful way to promote its sports-only prediction market.
Australian Olympians are among a growing number of female athletes criticising Sydney Sweeney’s new advertising campaign for US sports prediction market Novig.
Titled “Just Sports”, the campaign features the Euphoria actor in little to no clothing. Even with the few “sports” covered in the spot, it’s pretty obvious what got everyone’s attention. Critics, including four-time Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus, say the imagery sexualises women in a sporting context and undermines the work female athletes have done to be recognised for their performance.
The backlash has since spread across several sports, including swimming, athletics, water polo, hockey, surfing, boxing, gymnastics and cycling. Several Australian athletes are among the most prominent voices speaking out against the campaign, alongside a handful of international sporting stars. While Sweeney might be the face of the campaign, the criticism largely focuses on the use of sexualised imagery in a sporting context. It’s not just about her nudity.
Outrage Over Sydney Sweeney’s ‘Just Sports’ Campaign?
Novig launched “Just Sports” on 9 September as its first national brand campaign featuring Sweeney, who joined the company as a strategic partner and equity holder. So she’s got a few chips on the table for a platform that describes itself as a sports-focused prediction market, distinguishing itself from competitors that offer markets across politics, entertainment and other subjects, including platforms such as Polymarket.
From the moment the video plays, however, the sports-only message shares the screen with the other obvious part of the campaign. Sweeney appears alongside tennis racquets, basketballs, footballs, baseball bats and hockey equipment, often using the sporting props to cover her body while repeatedly reinforcing that Novig deals with “just sports”.
When the video debuted online, Sweeney said the campaign was about “embracing a fun idea”, with Novig positioning the creative as a playful way of cutting through the noise around broader prediction markets. Considering the backlash around the “just sports” campaign, it’s not all fun and games anymore.
Australian Athletes Criticise the Campaign
Ariarne Titmus
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus was among the highest-profile Australians to criticise the ad, calling it “an absolute joke” and saying on her Instagram Stories that she was infuriated by what she saw as the continued sexualisation of women in sport.
“How do we live in a world where monetising a woman’s body and sexualising women’s sport is still a thing?” Titmus wrote on Instagram, arguing the campaign disrespected women who had spent their lives developing their athletic craft. Underneath it all was a simple question: what does this message send to younger men and women?
Jocelyn Bartram
Hockeyroos goalkeeper Jocelyn Bartram similarly argued against the campaign in an Instagram post, saying it felt out of step with the progress women’s sport had already made towards being properly recognised for talent and skill rather than sexualisation.
Felicity Palmateer
Australian surfer Felicity Palmateer told CNN the campaign was particularly concerning for younger women entering sport, describing the imagery as “very damaging” for female athletes and girls looking to follow them.
Lani Pallister
Olympic swimmer Lani Pallister also responded on Instagram, saying she had “truly no words” before joining the broader athlete-led response with footage of her training, racing and competing.
Tilly Kearns
Water polo silver medallist Tilly Kearns was a little more direct. Posting on Instagram alongside footage from her own sporting career, she wrote: “I absolutely f’ing hate Sydney Sweeney’s new sports ad.”
Bree Rizzo
Australian Olympic sprinter Bree Rizzo, formerly Bree Masters, also joined the Instagram response, posting footage from her career and pointing towards what women in sport actually look like.
Her message to Sweeney was simple: “Respectfully Sydney Sweeney… This is what women in sports really look like.”
Lauren Ryan
Australian Olympian Lauren Ryan was among the athletes who posted in response to the campaign, using their own sporting footage to show what women in sport actually look like.
Liz Clay
Olympian Liz Clay similarly joined the social-media response, posting her own sporting content as part of the broader pushback from Australian athletes.
Skye Nicolson
Boxer Skye Nicolson acknowledged that Sweeney’s bare involvement may have been giving Novig the attention it wanted. Writing on Instagram, Nicolson said the backlash was giving the company “exactly what they wanted”, while also calling on brands to “stop sexualising women in sport”.
She later posted on her Instagram Story, arguing there was a difference between female athletes embracing their femininity and using sex to sell sport. That doesn’t dismiss the criticism, but Nicolson’s point is hard to ignore: this is a campaign built to get people talking, and sex sells.
International Athletes Join the Backlash
It’s not just the Aussies up in arms over Novig’s campaign with Sweeney. International athletes have also joined the furore.
Gracie Kramer
Former American gymnast Gracie Kramer posted an Instagram reel of herself competing with the message that this was what a woman in sport looked like, helping spark a broader social-media response from female athletes.
Amy Hunt
British sprinter Amy Hunt took her response beyond social media, addressing Sweeney during a post-race interview with BBC Sport after competing in the 200m final at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.
“Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” Hunt said, pointing instead to the muscles, hard work and competition involved in elite sport.
Sophie Capewell
Olympic cycling gold medallist Sophie Capewell also criticised the campaign in an Instagram post featuring footage of her training in the gym and on the track.
Capewell argued that women should be recognised for what they can do rather than simply what they look like, questioning why sexualised representation remains such a prominent way of depicting women in sport.
What Have Novig and Sydney Sweeney Said?
Nothing directly from Sweeney, yet. She has not publicly addressed the athletes’ criticism, although she shared old images from ESPN’s The Body Issue over the weekend, featuring elite athletes who had posed nude or semi-nude in the past. Some outlets interpreted the posts as an indirect response to the controversy, but Sweeney has yet to explain anything herself.
Novig has since addressed the backlash directly. Speaking at Front Office Sports’ Asset Class event, co-founder and CEO Jacob Fortinsky said the company was “hugely supportive of women’s sports” and “never intended to portray female sports”. He also said Sweeney had driven “a lot of the visuals and the messaging” behind the campaign.
In Novig’s launch announcement, Sweeney said the idea was to focus entirely on sport and deliver that message with confidence, humour and a “playful edge”. She later told Complex that she had been involved in the creative from the beginning and described the campaign as a “very simple and playful idea”.
In Novig’s own words, “Sports fans deserve a prediction market built specifically for them,” said Jacob Fortinsky, co-founder and CEO of Novig. “Sydney helped bring that message to life in a way that’s impossible to ignore.” Fortinsky was also open about the awareness Sweeney could bring to Novig, telling Front Office Sports that she was “great at captivating audiences and being the center of attention” and that the partnership “forces us into the national discourse”.
Several athletes have directed their comments at Sweeney and the campaign, while others have focused more broadly on Novig and how it represents women in sports advertising.
For now, the strongest response has come from the athletes themselves, who have used the campaign’s visibility to make their own point about what they believe women in sport should be recognised for: their sport.
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