Sydney Sweeney’s latest ad campaign has landed very differently with some of the women who have spent their lives competing in sports.
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus is among a growing group of athletes criticizing Sweeney’s new “Just Sports” campaign for Novig, a sports prediction market. The campaign shows Sweeney nude or minimally dressed while footballs, basketballs, hockey equipment and other sports gear strategically cover her body.
Athletes including former UCLA gymnast Gracie Kramer, Olympic swimmer Lani Pallister, British sprinter Amy Hunt and water polo Olympian Tilly Kearns have responded by putting competition, training and athletic achievement back at the center of their own posts.
Sweeney is more closely tied to the campaign than a typical celebrity spokesperson. Novig announced that she joined the company as a strategic partner and equity holder, while Sweeney said she had participated in the creative process from the beginning.
Ariarne Titmus Says the Campaign Is a ‘Kick in the Face’
The four-time Olympic champion, who retired from competitive swimming in 2025, wrote on Instagram that she had believed this kind of marketing belonged in the past.
“I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” Titmus wrote, according to The Guardian. She called the campaign a “kick in the face” to women who have spent years perfecting their craft.
Her objection centered on what she believes sport should represent. Titmus pointed instead to teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence and unity, questioning why sexualizing women remained a tool for marketing a sports product.
Gracie Kramer’s Response Turned Into a Wider Athlete Trend
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Former UCLA gymnast Gracie Kramer took a different approach. Instead of only criticizing the campaign, she posted footage from her own athletic career around the message, “this is what a woman in sport looks like.”
The Guardian credited Kramer with helping kick-start the trend, while Australian Olympic swimmer Lani Pallister followed with footage of training, racing and medals. Sprinter Bree Rizzo shared highlights from her track career, and the Australian Institute of Sport posted clips spanning archery, gymnastics, boxing, softball and sports science.
British sprinter Amy Hunt took the message directly to Sweeney after finishing fourth in the 200 meters at the Ultimate Championships. “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” she told the BBC, before emphasizing the muscles, hard work and sacrifice behind elite competition.
Water polo Olympic silver medalist Tilly Kearns condemned the ad on Instagram, while world champion boxer Skye Nicolson argued that there is a distinction between female athletes embracing femininity and using sexual imagery to sell sport. NBC also reported on the broader athlete response.
Sweeney Helped Shape the Campaign and Owns a Stake in Novig
Novig announced the campaign on Sept. 9 as its first national brand campaign and identified Sweeney as both a strategic partner and equity holder. The company’s premise is that its prediction market focuses exclusively on sports instead of offering markets around politics, war or death.
Sweeney also told Complex that she had been part of the creative conversations “from the very beginning” and described the concept as “a very simple and playful idea.” She said she does not like to simply put her face on a company and prefers being involved more deeply in partnerships.
Sweeney also has her own athletic background. She told Complex she grew up playing soccer and softball, competed on a ski team, learned slalom skiing and trained in MMA. She said she remains particularly interested in hockey and boxing, with her appreciation for the latter growing while portraying boxer Christy Martin in the 2025 film Christy.
Sweeney Has Not Directly Answered the Athletes
Sweeney has not publicly issued a direct response to Titmus, Kramer or the other athletes criticizing the campaign. She did, however, turn to Instagram Stories as the criticism spread and share images from ESPN’s former Body Issue, in which elite athletes posed nude while highlighting their bodies and athletic achievements.
InStyle reported that the posts included athletes such as Serena Williams and Megan Rapinoe as well as male sports figures including Rob Gronkowski and Jason Kelce.
She also continued promoting Novig on Sept. 13 with additional images from the campaign, captioning the post, “It’s gamedayyyy @novig.”