Sydney Sweeney is facing a wave of criticism from professional female athletes over a new ad campaign in which she appears nude or nearly nude, using sports equipment to cover herself while promoting Novig, a sports prediction-trading platform. The roughly one-minute spot, part of Novig’s “Just Sports” campaign, shows Sweeney using footballs, basketballs, a hockey net, and mock tennis, golf and baseball gear to cover parts of her body while she moves through several sports, set to Anderson .Paak’s 2016 song “Come Down.” The ad’s message is that Novig is about “no wars, no death, no politics — just sports.”
Key facts
- Campaign: Novig’s “Just Sports” ad, featuring Sydney Sweeney covering herself with sports equipment
- Company: Novig, a sports-only prediction market regulated as a Designated Contract Market by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- Availability: 47 states; blocked in Arizona, Michigan and Nevada; users must be at least 21
- Reported launch: Wednesday, September 9, 2026 — most reporting cites this date, though it has not been independently confirmed
- Sweeney’s role: also a strategic partner and equity holder in Novig
- Reported valuation: about $500 million, after a $75 million funding round that pushed total funding past $105 million — figures from trade-press coverage, not an independently verified company filing
- Reach: the Instagram clip has reportedly been viewed more than 33 million times
Timeline
- June 2026 — Novig receives Designated Contract Market status from the CFTC
- August 2026 — Novig launches nationwide
- September 9, 2026 (reported) — Novig’s “Just Sports” ad featuring Sweeney reportedly goes live
What Novig is
Novig is not a traditional sportsbook. It received Designated Contract Market status from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission — the federal agency that regulates derivatives markets — in June 2026, and launched nationwide the following August. It functions as a sports-only prediction market: users buy and sell contracts tied to how a game turns out, which works more like trading a stock than placing a bet against a bookmaker. It is available in 47 states, blocked in Arizona, Michigan and Nevada, and requires users to be at least 21.
Athletes push back
Olympic athletes and other women in sports quickly pushed back. Australian Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus called the ad “an absolute joke” on Instagram, writing, “I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this.” Olympic 100-meter semifinalist Bree Masters posted images of herself training, captioned, “Respectfully Sydney Sweeney… This is what women in sports really look like.” American gymnast Gracie Kramer posted a similar message, and the Australian Institute of Sport released its own video, titled “THIS is sport,” featuring women athletes and set to the same backing track as the Novig ad. Across social media, commenters called the campaign “disgusting,” “pathetic” and “inappropriate,” arguing it undercuts efforts to have female athletes recognized for their skill rather than their bodies.
Sweeney defends the ad
Sweeney has defended the campaign rather than walking it back. In a statement, she said: “The concept is simple: cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports. The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humor and a playful edge.” In an interview with Complex, she said she had been part of the creative conversations “from the very beginning” and described the idea as playful. Separately, she posted images from ESPN’s “Body Issue” — which features nude professional athletes such as Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey and Sue Bird — to her Instagram, captioned “It’s gamedayyyy.” Several outlets read the post as an implicit reply to her critics, pointing to a precedent of athletes posing nude in sports media, though Sweeney has not said publicly that this was her intent. The ad and the posts remain live, and the Instagram clip has reportedly been viewed more than 33 million times.
Novig’s CEO responds
Novig’s chief executive, Jacob Fortinsky, has stood behind the campaign, framing the attention it has drawn as a win rather than a problem. “Sydney is great at captivating audiences and being the center of attention,” he said, adding of the controversy itself: “In some sense, it forces us into the national discourse.” He has defended the mature content by noting that Novig requires users to be at least 21 years old.
Sweeney’s stake in Novig
Sweeney’s connection to Novig goes beyond appearing in the ad. She is also a strategic partner and equity holder in the company, having reportedly approached Novig herself about investing. Novig and Sweeney have not disclosed the size of her stake or what, if anything, she was paid for the campaign. Novig’s valuation has been reported at roughly $500 million, following a $75 million funding round that brought its total funding past $105 million — figures that come from trade coverage, not from an independently verified company filing.
Separating this from other controversies
Two other points are worth separating from this story. The Novig ad is a real, company-confirmed campaign — not to be confused with a 2025 AI-generated deepfake video of Sweeney that circulated online and drew comment from a U.S. senator. And while this is not the first time one of Sweeney’s ad campaigns has drawn public criticism — a separate campaign for another brand ran into controversy last year — that earlier episode involved a different company and a different set of complaints, and is not part of this dispute over the Novig ad.
What happens next
Novig has said the “Just Sports” push is its first national brand campaign, with more creative planned through the fall. Beyond the athletes’ social-media posts and the Australian Institute of Sport’s response video, no sports governing body, advertiser or platform has taken public action over the ad, and neither Novig nor Sweeney has indicated any plan to change or pull it in response to the criticism.