When does selling female sexuality become tone-deaf?

Sydney Sweeney's Novig campaign sparked backlash over the objectification of women in sport, raising questions about the responsibility talent carries in provocative brand work. We examined where that responsibility begins and ends.

Actor Sydney Sweeney has turned sexuality into advertising currency, but her latest campaign, rolled out three weeks ago on 9 September, for sports betting platform Novig has put that formula under scrutiny. In ‘Just Sports’, Sweeney poses in minimal clothing with sports gear, while her position as an investor and equity holder has drawn backlash from women athletes over the objectification of women in sport.

The controversy has extended beyond the brand and agency behind the work, raising a larger question: when a celebrity is not only the face of a campaign but also financially invested in the brand, does that change how we view their role in the work and its cultural impact?

For decades, women athletes have fought to be recognised for their skill and athletic ability rather than their appearance, while pushing for equal pay, greater opportunities, fair broadcast visibility and professional respect. Against that backdrop, the use of a sexualised female image to appeal to a predominantly male sports audience has prompted questions about who advertising imagines sport is for, and where women fit into that picture.

The debate also goes beyond Sweeney. Women have the right to agency and choice, including the choice to use their sexuality commercially. But agency exists within a wider social and cultural context, particularly one in which women’s bodies have historically been objectified for commercial gain. The question, then, is whether an individual choice can be empowering at a personal level while simultaneously reinforcing stereotypes at a broader cultural level.

The campaign also raises a familiar tension in advertising: can work be a marketing success because everyone is talking about it while being a cultural misstep? Controversy can generate reach, recall and sales, but attention alone may not account for the assumptions and stereotypes being reinforced. The backlash around Novig ultimately opens up a wider conversation about provocative advertising and the industry’s continued reliance on the sexualised female body to generate attention, particularly when that imagery enters spaces where women are still fighting to be taken seriously.

Dr AL Sharada, trustee and former director, Population First, and initiator, Laadli Media Advocacy Campaign for Gender Sensitivity, and Aditi Chauhan, former Indian Women’s Football Team Captain, founder and director, She Kicks Football League, She Kicks Football Academy and the Aditi Chauhan Foundation, shared their expertise on the recent backlash.

The full conversation on the topic is featured in the latest issue of Manifest, where it was first published. Click here to buy your copy.