NEWSSydney Sweeney's Nude Novig Ad Draws Backlash, But the Brand 'Knows Exactly Who They're Speaking to,' Says Expert
Sydney Sweeney appeared in Novig’s provocative sports prediction campaign.
Sept. 20 2026, Published 5:01 a.m. ET
Sydney Sweeney’s revealing Novig campaign has achieved one clear goal: people are talking. But the backlash seems to be building the sports-prediction platform’s brand more than damaging it.
The 60-second ad shows the Euphoria star fully or partially nude, with footballs, basketballs, a soccer ball and a hockey net strategically covering her body. Critics, including several female Olympians, accused the campaign of sexualizing women in sports.
Sydney Sweeney gained 50,000 Instagram followers before a larger decline after the ad.
Sweeney gained 50,000 Instagram followers during the first three days after posting the ad, but lost more than 200,000 over the next two, according to Variety. The decline represented less than 1% of her audience of more than 25 million, however.
When Attention Becomes a Brand Risk
Female Olympians criticized the campaign for sexualizing women in sports.
“The risk for brands is assuming that attention and connection are the same thing. They’re not,” said Ravi Sawhney, founder and CEO of RKS Design and creator of Psycho-Aesthetics.
“Sports carry powerful associations with achievement, identity, belonging and increasingly, women’s equality and athletic credibility,” Sawhney said. “When sexual imagery is layered onto that, some audiences may perceive a conflict between the values the setting represents and the message the advertising communicates.”
Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, wrote on Instagram that she was “infuriated” by the spot and questioned why “monetising a woman’s body and sexualising women’s sport is still a thing.”
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Novig Says the Campaign Worked
Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky said Sydney Sweeney helped shape the campaign’s visuals and messaging.
Speaking at the Front Office Sports Asset Class event in New York, Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky said Sweeney, a strategic partner and equity holder, was “driving a lot of the visuals and the messaging.”
He said that despite Novig only launching in August, it has “just passed a billion dollars in cumulative volume.”
“Ultimately, I think she did a great job at conveying the essence of our company and we’ve been very happy with how positive the feedback has been overall,” he said.
Sweeney described the campaign as a playful attempt to “cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports.” Unlike other prediction markets, Novig is only sports.
An Old Strategy Meets a New Audience
Novig said the campaign generated significant attention and engagement for the brand.
“Consumer brands using sexuality to attract attention in male categories is literally as old as advertising itself,” said Ian Baer, founder and CEO of Sooth.
“Our data on the fastest growing segments within the world of prediction markets shows much of the same culture that became so pivotal in the last election cycle: men in their 20s and 30s who embrace risk and believe in decentralized finance — DeFi — which leans away from traditional investments and banks towards tech-driven alternatives such as prediction markets,” Baer explained.
“So in this case,” he said, “it certainly does seem Novig and Sydney Sweeney know exactly who they’re speaking to.”
