Sydney Sweeney has once again found herself in an advertisement-based controversy. Just last year, consumers were fed the slogan “Sydney Sweeney has Great Jeans” in an advertisement for American Eagle, which quickly garnered criticism for its apparent racially coded undertones. When I first saw it, I thought nothing of it. But when I saw the new Novig ad, I immediately felt something was off.
Sweeney’s advertisement for Novig, a sports prediction market and trading app, was released Sept. 9. The ad presents a nearly nude Sweeney tactically covered by sports equipment, like footballs and baseball mitts. In each camera shot, Sweeney says Novig is “just sports.” Despite this tagline, the ad says little about sports and instead uses Sweeney’s body to appeal to viewers.
This only builds upon women’s complicated relationship with sports. Media coverage often focuses on female athletes’ bodies instead of their athletic achievements. Women with larger builds, which reveal physical strength, are harassed for deviating from traditional standards of femininity. The pressure for athletes to improve performance often leads to weight and appearance struggles and sometimes contributes to eating disorders.
Elite female athletes are constantly advocating for equal representation in sports, but advertisements like Novig’s work against them.
Sweeney’s ad in no way showcases what it’s like to be a female athlete, who spends years training, competing and pushing her body to its limit for a chance at victory. But Novig’s ad only represents a hypersexualized actress standing provocatively in a sports-related environment. As much as the ad’s catchphrase says otherwise, sports aren’t the main focus — Sweeney’s body is.
This sexualized figure is an ingenuine picture. Sweeney portrays an athlete who’s designed to put all their effort into looking the best instead of improving their performance.
That false image takes a toll. Younger athletes, and society as a whole, may begin to see female athletes in the wrong light.
The problem with Sweeney’s ad extends beyond the sexualization of women in sports. It represents a larger cultural shift to a more traditional version of femininity that emphasizes desirability over ability. Similar to the lifestyle of “Euphoria” character Cassie Howard, whom Sweeney portrayed, the actress has become associated with a culture that emphasizes hyperfemininity and a need for male validation.
Although this lifestyle may not directly relate to Sweeney’s personal beliefs, who advocates for body confidence in all women, she has become an icon for it nevertheless. Social media has increased visibility of these traditional values, allowing many to boom in popularity.
Traditional wives, commonly called “tradwives” online, have used their platforms to promote hypertraditional gender roles in marriage, where they primarily perform housework while their husband is the sole source of income. Nara Smith, for one, boasts 12.5 million followers on TikTok, where she showcases her domestic lifestyle.
I believe women should express their femininity however they wish. But if too much focus is placed on women’s appearances and domesticity , they can easily overshadow a woman's worth. Nothing is wrong with being a homemaker or filling traditional marriage roles, but women should also be free to pursue a career, including sports, without scrutiny.
Femininity shouldn’t come at the expense of ambition. Appearance shouldn’t become the only important element of a person’s life. No matter how attractive someone is, their looks are not all they have to offer.
By making Sweeney’s beauty the centerpiece of Novig’s ad — not sports — the company reinforces a perspective female athletes have been long fighting: A woman's appearance matters more than her abilities. Women in sports should be recognized for their accomplishments, not reduced to how they look while completing them.
Contact Kaitlyn Ocuto at kocuto@alligator.org. Follow her on X @KaitlynOcuto.
Kaitlyn Ocuto is a sophmore biomedical engineering major in her first semester at The Alligator. In her free time, she enjoys running, hanging out with friends and reading.
