Image Credits: Novig
To no surprise, Sydney Sweeney is back at it again with continuously setting women back, specifically women in sports.
Now, this isn’t the only scandal she’s been involved in. Last summer, Sweeney participated in an American Eagle jeans advertisement that highlighted a play on the word “jeans” and “genes.” For more details about the ad and what happened, please check out Elaina Caber’s article on the situation.
Just recently, Sweeney participated in a campaign for US sports-prediction market Novig. In the sports ad itself, and in the several photos/shots that are available online, Sweeney is completely naked, while holding several sporting objects such as a football, basketball, tennis racket, baseball bat, etc., to cover only her private areas. Throughout the ad, she continuously repeats the same words and phrases by saying: “No betting on wars, or deaths and no politics,” while assuring that the app is “just sports.”
What People Are Saying
Ever since the campaign aired, it has definitely been the talk amongst many individuals. Many people have already expressed their anger and furiousness toward Novig’s ad, especially female athletes.
American Gymnast, Gracie Kramer, expressed her disapproval to BANG Showbiz by stating: “This ad is honestly infuriating. I’ve spent my entire life competing in a sport where female athletes have been oversexualized, reduced to our bodies and forced to fight to be taken seriously for what we can actually do… so to see women’s sports once again being marketed through the male gaze feels like a massive step backward.”
British Rugby union player Ellie Boatman also responded in her TikTok caption: “Sorry what the actual heck is going on with that Sports Ad, but hey Sydney this is what women’s sport actually looks like. We train and work hard to achieve what we have and we seriously don’t want sexualization in sport to be the only way women are recognized… that ad is really not it.”
Lastly, British Cyclist, Sophie Capewell, responds with a video on Facebook by saying: “I’m sure you’ve seen Sydney Sweeney’s ad, but imagine a world where women are seen for what they can do, not just what they look like. It is cool to be an athlete, it is good to be strong. Imagine a world where sexualized representation isn’t the most popular way of seeing women in sport.”
These are just a few responses from female athletes, the list goes on and on.
Overall, this is just very disappointing to say the least. Not only for women in sports, but also all of us as a whole. To be clear, I’m not just blaming Sydney for this, but I also blame Novig for releasing this campaign and thinking it was a good idea, and all of the other industries that continuously use women’s bodies and appearances to get attention and/or promote their products.
This ad is an example of the sexualization, the humiliation and the degradation that women have been fighting so hard against just to be taken seriously. What makes it worse is that the campaign isn’t even effective, other than the fact that it’s for the male gaze. It’s not empowering or motivating; instead, it brings back the idea that female athletes are still expected to be valued only for their appearance rather than their achievements.
It is so incredibly frustrating to see women athletes are trying to stop being sexualized when they have worked so hard to get where they are. They’ve fought for privileges such as media coverage, sponsorships, funding and resources. They are humans too, not just objects.
With that being said, Novig, do better.
Madison Shrift is a third-year Communication Studies major with a minor in Media and Culture. MS1040447@wcupa.edu.
Get used to it. It’s the only Slime advertising that this world is gonna get with the people we have in network and marketing. This is what they say, gets the attention. Our world has become gross and perverted.