Novig’s sports betting ad featuring actor Sydney Sweeney, released Sept. 9, 2026, emphasizes women’s sex appeal rather than their athletic abilities.
At a time when women are finally getting some of the recognition they deserve in sports, Novig’s team opted to sexualize an actor to promote betting.
The commercial opens with Sweeney posing in front of the camera with two footballs pushing up her breasts. “Think you know sports?” she asks. “Prove it.”
The ad continues to show Sweeney appearing naked with sports equipment, as she repeats “sports,” and “it’s just sports.“
But is it just sports? It’s absolutely not to female athletes who have spent years of their lives training, professionally or not.
Ariarne Titmus, an Olympic swimming champion, described the ad as “a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft,” according to Forbes.
Female athletes were 10 times more likely than male athletes to be shown through objectifying camera angles in NBC’s primetime coverage during the first week of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, according to a report from The Representation Project.
According to the University of British Columbia, women’s sports receive around five to 10 per cent of everyday sports coverage at major broadcasters in various countries, including the U.S. and countries in Europe.
Shocker… not really.
Women deserve to have the same standards set for them when it comes to representation and equal treatment. In sports, that isn’t the case.
It’s a battle to receive the same opportunities as men. In recent years women have finally been given opportunities that men have had for ages.
But this ad does the exact opposite. It takes away from empowering women. If the ad featured empowerment and representation like ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue, it would be a completely different conversation. ESPN describes its Body Issue as showcasing athletes’ “muscles, skin, features and scars that make them who they are.”
In January 2024, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) began play, more than a century after the National Hockey League (NHL) made its debut in December 1917.
When I was growing up as a young athlete, I always wanted to play in the NHL. That dream didn’t exist for me. There was no NHL for girls. I wouldn’t get to be a Sidney Crosby or Wayne Gretzky.
As a young girl, that broke me. I wanted the same opportunities the boys had.
Growing up, I saw boys get more opportunities in hockey and other co-ed school sports. At tryouts, I would watch 20 boys make a team alongside only two or three girls. The girls were included “just for optics,” as the teachers would say.
Many female athletes, professional and amateur, spoke out about the Novig ad, even creating a trend in response to Sweeney on apps such as TikTok and Instagram. Some videos show female athletes playing their sport with intensity, with the text “is it just sports?” over Sweeney’s voiceover. Others feature athletes explaining what sports mean to them and responding to the ad.
Young girls all around the world deserve to have ads that depict role models that teach them to be strong, confident and athletic, showing it’s not about what you look like, but your athletic ability.
This ad did none of that. Instead, Novig focused on sex appeal as their marketing goal rather than representing and highlighting what it means to be a female athlete. The ad focused on sexiness rather than strength.
Many female athletes expressed concerns about the negative effect this ad could have on young girls, especially ones in sport.
“Since I was young, I’ve looked up to so many athletes, being little, you want to do your hair like them, you want to wear your uniform just like them, as a coach of young female athletes they really do idolize everything you do,” said Rebecca Sawyer, a Durham College women’s softball player.
“When we’re trying to provide role models for young people and young women in sport, we really want to show that it’s about what your body can do, not so much what it looks like,” said Amy Hunt, an Olympic sprint relay medallist, on Good Morning Britain, according to Forbes.
Sports ads with female representation should be using women in sports, especially at a time when we’re expanding women’s sports and trying to shine a brighter light on female athletes.
Ads should highlight female athletic skills, training and achievements to promote proper representation and empowerment. It’s a wave more businesses should follow.