Female athletes, including Olympic champions, have criticized a viral sports gambling advertisement starring US actor Sydney Sweeney, accusing the campaign of sexualizing women's sports and reducing athletic imagery to a marketing device.
The criticism centers on the "Just Sports" campaign for US sports prediction-market company Novig, released Sept. 9. The advertisement shows Sweeney wearing little or no clothing while sports equipment is positioned across her body as she imitates activities including tennis, hockey, golf, basketball and American football.
Sweeney repeatedly says "sports" during the advertisement, which ends by inviting viewers to test their sporting knowledge on Novig's platform.
The campaign quickly attracted tens of millions of views online, but athletes from several sports began responding with footage of themselves training and competing under variations of the message: "This is what a woman in sport looks like."
Former US gymnast Gracie Kramer was among the first to respond, sharing competition footage on Instagram and contrasting it with Sweeney's portrayal of sports.
Olympic swimmer Lani Pallister and sprinters Bree Masters and Amy Hunt later joined the online response, sharing images of their training, races and achievements. The Australian Institute of Sport also posted footage of women taking part in archery, gymnastics, boxing and softball, as well as sports scientists working behind the scenes.
Four-time Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus described the campaign as "an absolute joke."
"I can't describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this," she wrote on US-based social media platform Instagram, arguing that it disrespected women who had devoted their lives to their sports.
Titmus said women's sports represented teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence and unity, questioning why women's bodies were still being sexualized to generate revenue.
Australian Olympic water polo medalist Tilly Kearns also posted a compilation of women competing in sports and said she "absolutely" hated the advertisement.
World champion boxer Skye Nicolson said the criticism was not directed at women embracing their appearance or femininity, but at the use of sexualized imagery to market a sports-related product.
"There's a big difference between looking 'sexy' because you do sport compared to use sex to sell 'sport'," Nicolson wrote on Instagram.
She said the campaign made a "mockery" of women in sports and disregarded generations of athletes who had fought to be recognized for their performances.
Sweeney is not only the campaign's public face. Novig announced she had joined the company as a strategic partner and equity holder.
She also told Complex that she had been involved in creative discussions from the beginning, saying she did not want simply to attach her name to a company without having a role in the project.
Novig defended the concept as an attempt to emphasize that its prediction market focuses exclusively on sports.
"The campaign was about embracing a fun idea," Sweeney said in the company's announcement, describing its approach as one of "confidence, humor and a playful edge."
Sweeney appeared to respond indirectly to the criticism Sunday by sharing previous ESPN Body Issue covers featuring nude or partially clothed female and male athletes.
She did not directly respond to the athletes' criticism or explain whether the ESPN covers were intended as a defense of the campaign.
