Entertainment15 September, 20262 min read
Sydney Sweeney’s Novig Betting Ad Sparks Backlash From Ariarne Titmus And Mathilde Tily
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Olympians and female athletes condemn Novig ad for sexualizing women's sport. Sweeney appears naked or nearly nude, using sports gear to cover her body.
Nude Novig ad sparks rage
Sydney Sweeney’s latest betting advertisement for Novig has triggered criticism from women’s sports after the ad went viral online and showed her “mostly poses naked” while promoting betting under the banner “confirmed: Sydney Sweeney knows balls.”
In the 58 seconds of the ad described by ABC, Sweeney mostly poses naked with sports accessories including boxing gloves, balls, racket, and a golf club, while she says, “not about war, not about death, not about politics. Only sport.”
ABC reports that the backlash has been “unanimous in its response,” with numerous elite female athletes calling the campaign “disgusting” and sharing posts that argue women in sport are “much more than the appearance of our bodies.”
The criticism also includes Ariarne Titmus, who wrote “I’m furious,” and French triathlete Mathilde Tily, who described the commercial as “disgusting” and said “no amount of money should persuade a woman to display this image.”
Athletes answer with reels
As the ad spread, athletes used social media to counter it, with American gymnast Gracie Kramer posting an Instagram reel reading: “idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sport looks like.”
BBC reports that British sprinter Amy Hunt, who finished fourth in the 200m final at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Sunday, said in a post-race interview with BBC Sport: “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like.”
BBC also quotes Hunt’s follow-up line about the sport itself, adding: “21.4. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears. This is a beautiful evening.”
In ABC News & Headlines’ account, Ariarne Titmus called the ad “an absolute joke,” writing on her stories, “I can't describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” and she asked, “How do we live in a world where monetising a woman's body and sexualising women's sport is still a thing?”
Sweeney defends by citing ESPN
After the backlash, Sweeney responded by posting on her Instagram stories images from ESPN’s “Body issue,” including Serena Williams and Ronda Rousey, and also male athletes such as Rob Gronkowski and Karl-Anthony Towns, as described by ABC News & Headlines. ABC News & Headlines says the ad was released last week and that Titmus’s criticism came as the video had been viewed over 33 million times, while the article also notes Sweeney was non-committal when asked about criticism tied to “white people shouldn’t joke about genetic superiority.”
In the BBC account, Sweeney is identified as 29 and as the star of Euphoria, and the report frames the backlash as athletes posting videos of themselves competing or training to show what they say women’s sport looks like. The dispute is now tied to Sweeney’s earlier controversy as well, with ABC News & Headlines referencing the 2025 American Eagle campaign and its slogan “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” which sparked debate due to the pun with “genes,” and ABC News & Headlines adds that Sweeney told GQ, “I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.”