Sydney Sweeney’s latest advertising campaign has triggered a wider debate about the way women are presented in sport, and one of the most influential figures in the industry has now responded.
Alexis Ohanian, the Reddit co-founder, Athlos founder and husband of tennis legend Serena Williams, has criticised attempts to compare Sweeney’s campaign for sports prediction platform Novig with ESPN’s famous Body Issue.
The campaign places a strong emphasis on Sweeney’s appearance while using sporting imagery and equipment. Several female athletes have criticised that approach, arguing that women’s sport has spent years trying to move the conversation away from appearance and towards performance, according to Associated Press.
Ohanian rejects the comparison
The debate intensified when Sweeney shared images from ESPN The Magazine’s former Body Issue, an annual project which featured some of the biggest names in world sport.
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Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird and Rob Gronkowski were among the athletes included in the images she shared.
Speaking ahead of the London edition of Athlos, Ohanian argued that comparing Sweeney’s commercial with the ESPN project missed an important distinction.
“What’s so weird is Sydney Sweeney is not an athlete,” Ohanian said, according to ESPN.
Ohanian argued that ESPN’s Body Issue celebrated bodies developed through years of elite training and competition. In his view, that was fundamentally different from using similar imagery to advertise a commercial product.
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He described the comparison between the two as a “false equivalence”.
Ohanian also said his frustration was not primarily directed at Sweeney herself, but at how much attention the campaign had taken away from professional athletes.
“It’s frustrating that we’re spending this much time talking about Sydney Sweeney and not talking about the amazing actual women athletes,” he said.
Serena Williams pulled into the debate
Sweeney’s decision to share previous ESPN images brought Williams into the discussion despite the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion not being at the centre of the original criticism.
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ESPN’s Body Issue ran between 2009 and 2019 and featured elite athletes in artistic photographs designed to highlight athleticism, strength and the physical demands of professional sport.
Ohanian told The Guardian that his criticism was not about how Sweeney chose to appear in the advertisement. Instead, he questioned the suggestion that her campaign could be directly compared with professional athletes showcasing bodies shaped by years of elite competition.
“These are professional athletes who have devoted decades of their life towards a physical goal and their body is their résumé,” Ohanian said.
That distinction has become central to the wider argument. Critics have stressed that the issue is not about restricting how women present themselves, but about how appearance is used when sport itself forms part of the marketing.
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Female athletes lead the criticism
Several prominent athletes had already spoken out before Ohanian entered the discussion.
Four-time Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus questioned why campaigns connected to women’s sport still place such a heavy emphasis on appearance.
British sprinter Amy Hunt also addressed Sweeney after finishing fourth in the 200 metres at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.
“Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” Hunt said, before pointing to the muscles, work and sacrifices behind elite competition, as reported by Associated Press.
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Former US gymnast Gracie Kramer and rugby player Sofie Fella were among other athletes to criticise the campaign, arguing that female competitors have spent years working to ensure sporting ability receives more attention than appearance.
Ohanian turns attention back to sport
Ohanian has become increasingly involved in women’s sport in recent years. He helped launch Angel City FC, has invested in Chelsea Women and created Athlos as a women-only athletics competition centred on greater prize money, athlete visibility and promotion.
Rather than viewing the controversy solely as a negative development, Ohanian believes the response also demonstrates how effectively athletes can now influence the conversation.
He praised competitors who have used the debate to promote their achievements and redirect attention towards their performances.
That may ultimately prove to be the most significant part of the controversy. A highly discussed advertising campaign has generated enormous attention, but some of the athletes involved are now attempting to ensure that the focus returns to the women actually competing on tracks, pitches and in arenas around the world.
