Retired Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus and other athletes have been heavily critical of prediction maket, Novig's advertising campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, accusing it of sexualizing women’s sports.
Key Takeaways
- Novig last week launched a campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney playing sports in minimal clothing.
- Olympic medalists and athletes have criticized the campaign, saying it is sexualizing women’s sports.
- Retired Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus slammed the marketing, calling it a thing of the past.
The campaign by the sports prediction market operator shows Sweeney scantily clothed as she mimics playing baseball, golf, ice hockey and tennis. She also poses with basketballs, footballs and a soccer ball throughout the clip.
Titmus, a four-time Olympic champion, posted her reaction on Instagram, where the advert has racked up tens of millions of views. She said the campaign felt like a setback for every woman who has built a career in sport through hard work rather than image. The Australian questioned why marketing that reduces female athletes to their bodies is still considered acceptable.
“I can’t describe how infuriated I am to watch this,” Titmus posted on Instagram. “How do we live in a world where monetizing a woman’s body and sexualizing women’s sport is a thing?”
Titmus has been joined by others who share her opinion of the advertisement.
American gymnast Gracie Kramer had already started a trend among athletes posting footage of their training and competition results to contrast with the advert.
Some social media users argued the backlash should target Novig rather than Sweeney herself. However, the actress holds a stake in the company and is listed as a strategic partner rather than simply a hired face for the campaign.
The row echoes an earlier controversy involving Sweeney. In 2025, an American Eagle denim campaign featuring the actress drew criticism for wording that some felt referenced eugenics. Sweeney later said the reaction had caught her off guard and stressed she does not support division or hatred.
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A wider pattern
The Sweeney ad was not an isolated case. It arrived as part of a broader wave of attention-grabbing marketing from prediction markets and sportsbooks timed to the start of the NFL season.
Polymarket rolled out a campaign that features athletes and celebrities like LeBron James, Derek Jeter, Eli Manning and others. Reaction to posts from James, Jeter and Manning skewed negative, according to social media analysis firm Siftsy, with many users criticizing the gambling tie-in and questioning why wealthy, influential athletes were promoting it.
Betr, the platform founded by Jake Paul, released a commercial reuniting actors Adrian Grenier and Jeremy Piven in a nod to their old television show, Entourage. That ad drew a different kind of pushback. The show's creator, Doug Ellin, publicly objected to the tribute, saying he had no involvement in it and calling it theft.
A company representative responded by thanking him for helping promote the spot.
None of the three campaigns involves an official NFL partnership. The league has so far declined to strike any deals with prediction market operators heading into the season, even as those platforms compete aggressively for consumer attention and market share.
