Sydney Sweeney’s answer to the athletes calling her revealing Novig ad a mockery of women in sport has been to post more stripped-down athletes.

Rather than address the criticism directly, the actress spent the days after the reaction spread by sharing Instagram stories of ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue photographs, Today reports. Among the athletes she reposted were Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird and Caroline Wozniacki, along with male athletes including Myles Garrett, Rob Gronkowski, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jason Kelce.

The campaign for the sports prediction market Novig went live on 9 September and had passed 37 million views on the brand’s Instagram Reels within four days.

Titmus ‘infuriated’ over sexualising sport

The pushback has crossed sports and continents.

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Australian Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus said the ad had left her lost for words.

“I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” she wrote in a post captured by Euronews.

“How do we live in a world where monetising a woman’s body and sexualising women’s sport is still a thing?”

Skye Nicolson, the Australian world champion boxer, drew the distinction she said the ad had blurred.

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“There’s a big difference between looking ‘sexy’ because you do sport compared to using sex to sell ‘sport’,” she wrote on Instagram.

Canadian skier Cassidy Gray called the ad “idiotic” and “senseless” in a TikTok video. Gymnast Gracie Kramer posted her own video with the caption: “Idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing but this is what a woman in sport looks like.”

Hunt takes the microphone trackside

Amy Hunt made her intervention on the track. The British sprinter took the reporter’s microphone after a 200m sprint.

“Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears,” she said, in comments reported by Sky Sports.

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Hunt warned that the ad risked adding another “barrier” for young girls thinking about taking up sport.

‘Plenty of tears’ behind closed doors

Sweeney has not spoken publicly. A source described as close to the actress told the National Enquirer, in reporting carried by Yahoo, that she has struggled to process the reaction.

“Behind closed doors there have been plenty of tears,” the source said.

“Her ad was not putting women down. She wasn’t in any way intending that, and she doesn’t understand how the situation spiraled so much. She’s lost tens of thousands of social media followers over this, it’s a disaster from a business perspective.”

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Novig chief executive Jacob Fortinsky has defended the concept. He told Today the campaign was designed to be “playful and light” while positioning the brand as taking sports more seriously.

Sweeney herself had described the same idea in her own words before the reaction turned.

“The campaign was about embracing a fun idea. The concept is simple: cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports,” she said.

The Body Issue reposts remain her only public reply.

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