“Euphoria” star Sydney Sweeney is known for being quite a controversial figure. On Sep. 9, the actress starred in an ad that received instant backlash. The commercial advertised the sports trading app Novig. The ad quickly went viral, only to undergo harsh criticism, prominently from female athletes.
However, this isn’t the first time Sweeney has published a problematic commercial. In July of 2025, she released an ad for American Eagle. She used wordplay that placed emphasis on her blonde hair and blue eyes. People found the video racist and attacked her for being a white supremacist.
This time, Sweeney has been cancelled for a quite different reason. In the Novig ad, Sweeney is seen completely naked from head to toe. She covers her private parts with different types of sports balls or merely just her hair. In the commercial, she plays numerous sports while talking into the camera.
Novig uses the slogan “just sports” to emphasize the fact that they are a sports-only trading app. Sweeney states the slogan several times to specify the company's purpose. Toward the end of the ad, she once again highlights Novig's objective by saying, “no betting on wars or deaths and no politics.”
Many people have taken offense to this ad, specifically women who have had to work their way up in sports. The media claims that Sweeney's campaign is being used to objectify women as well as make a mockery of women's sports. Numerous female athletes have spoken out about the ad, claiming that it minimizes the importance of women's sports.
A large part of the problem for many is the fact the ad was mainly choreographed by Sweeney herself. She is a big strategic partner to Novig and was heavily involved in the making of the project. The media is angered by the fact that the actress is choosing to sexualize herself. To many females, it’s a slap in the face.
Many athletes have turned to social media to express their outrage with Sweeney. Numerous of them have posted on their Instagram stories, explaining their discomfort. Others have posted short videos of them playing sports with captions denouncing Novig’s campaign.
Four-time Olympic medalist Ariarne Titmus went to Instagram to express her disgust with the ad. She posted an emotional paragraph on her story expressing her opinion by saying, “How do we live in a world where monetising a woman's body and sexualising women’s sport is still a thing?”
Another award-winning Olympic swimmer who fought back was Lani Pallister. She posted on Instagram a compilation of her competing and training. Over the top of the video, she wrote, “Don’t know what Sydney thinks sport looks like, but THIS is what sport looks like.” The comments rose in support of the swimmer, as they voiced their negative thoughts on the actress's ad.
Gymnast Gracie Kramer also went to Instagram to convey her disgust with the campaign. Like Pallister, she posted a video of her competing. The gymnast wrote over the compilation, “idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sports looks like.”
Many news stations and reporters have reached out to the Novig company and Sweeney herself to try to get a statement. Sweeney has rarely spoken out about this ad. But she has defended the campaign repeatedly. She posted on her Instagram story and spoke to the media company, Complex, about the backlash.
On her story, she posted the nude photos of herself side by side with photoshoots of athletes throughout the years. These photoshoots featured both male and female athletes posing without any clothing. This was her way of saying to the media, “If they can do it, why can’t I?”
When speaking to Complex, she called the campaign “a very simple and playful idea.” She explains how she played sports when she was a kid. She played soccer, softball and skied. She uses this fact about herself to denounce those questioning her knowledge of sports.
This is not the first, but the second time Sweeney has starred in a controversial ad. Both times she has gotten major backlash from viewers. After both of these performances, the media is beginning to wonder what Sweeney will come out with next.
