Overview
- Novig released the minute-long 'Just Sports' ad on Sept. 9 featuring Sydney Sweeney largely nude and using sports equipment to cover herself, and the video went viral with tens of millions of views.
- Current and former female athletes including Ariarne Titmus, Amy Hunt and Gracie Kramer publicly condemned the spot on social media, posting training and competition reels to push back against what they call objectification and damage to women’s sport.
- Novig and Sweeney have defended the campaign, saying Sweeney helped create the concept, is a strategic partner and equity holder in the company, and that the ad was intended as a playful way to promote a sports-only prediction market restricted to users aged 21 and over.
- Sweeney’s latest public response was posting covers and images from ESPN’s Body Issue to her Instagram Stories, an apparent rebuttal that critics say ignores the difference between editorial athletic photo essays and commercial gambling advertising.
- The dispute has broadened the debate over celebrity-driven marketing and the ethics of gambling advertising, with athletes warning the creative direction could discourage girls from sport and normalize sexualized promotion around sports betting; there are no reported regulatory actions or major advertiser withdrawals so far.