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Female athletes in Canada are joining international condemnation of a provocative betting ad featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, who appears mostly nude while covering herself with sports equipment to promote Novig, a prediction market platform. Canadian sprint canoeist Sophia Jensen and Olympic alpine skier Cassidy Gray have shared videos criticizing the campaign as disrespectful and harmful to women's progress in sports. Team Canada also released a video highlighting the accomplishments of female athletes to contrast with Sweeney’s ad, which has faced widespread backlash online since its release last week.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-15,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Amy Hunt, a British sprinter who won four gold medals at the European Athletics Championships, criticized Sydney Sweeney's ad for Novig as sexualizing women’s sports. During an interview on Good Morning Britain, Hunt emphasized that showcasing what female athletes' bodies can do is more important than their appearance. She noted the high percentage (64%) of young girls dropping out of exercise and sport before age 16, urging to avoid placing barriers in their way.
Sweeney's ad features her partially naked with sports equipment covering parts of her body, which drew strong backlash from female athletes like Ariarne Titmus, Gracie Kramer, and Sofie Fella. These athletes described the advertisement as disrespectful and oversexualizing women’s sport. Hunt addressed Sweeney directly after a race in Budapest, stating "Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like," referring to muscle, hard work, sweat, blood, and tears.
Sweeney responded to the backlash by sharing photos of nude athletes on her Instagram Stories, including Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Megan Rapinoe, Caroline Wozniacki, and Rob Gronkowski. Despite this, critics continued to argue that the ad undermines efforts to empower young girls in sports. Hunt clarified that the criticism was not personal but aimed at the advertisement’s intention of sexualizing women's sport rather than celebrating their athletic achievements.
Written for “Sydney Sweeney Ad Backlash” on 2026-09-17,
grounded in this article and the 13 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted
verbatim and was checked against the article text before being
stored, so you can find it in the original.
-
Female athletes worldwide have shared messages and videos in response under the title of “Dear Sydney Sweeney,” accusing the actress and company of hyper-sexualizing women in sports.
left criticizes sexualization of women's bodies in sports marketing
-
“How do we live in a world where monetizing a woman’s body and sexualizing women’s sport is still a thing?”
left questions the practice of using women's bodies for commercial gain in sports
-
Team Canada also joined in with a video captioned: “This is what women in sports look like.”
left contrasts sexualized imagery with images of athletic performance
Leaning score -0.45 for article 11947 (high confidence, 3 verified quotes) · logged 2026-09-15
Some Canadian athletes are taking a stance online over the portrayal of women in sports after a betting company’s provocative ad campaign featuring a mostly nude Sydney Sweeney sparked fierce backlash.
asserted
campaign → take → backlash
The minute-long online video, shared widely by the American actress on her Instagram page last week, shows Sweeney covering parts of her body with various sports equipment as she promotes Novig, an online betting company that labels itself as a “sports prediction market” platform in the U.S.
“Think you know sports?” Sweeney asks in the clip.
asserted
Sweeney → share → clip
“Just sports,” Sweeney says repeatedly.
asserted
Sweeney → say → ?
Female athletes worldwide have shared messages and videos in response under the title of “Dear Sydney Sweeney,” accusing the actress and company of hyper-sexualizing women in sports.
asserted
athletes → share → sports
Several athletes have contrasted Sweeney’s campaign with photos and videos of themselves competing, arguing that women’s bodies in sports should be associated with strength and athletic performance rather than used primarily as a marketing tool.
asserted
bodies → contrast → tool
Australian Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus was among those criticizing the ad, while other athletes have described it as disrespectful to the progress women have made in sport.
asserted
women → criticize → sport
“I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” four-time Olympic swimming gold medallist Ariarne Titmus wrote on Instagram.
asserted
Titmus → describe → Instagram
“How do we live in a world where monetizing a woman’s body and sexualizing women’s sport is still a thing?”
asserted
monetizing → live → sport
This was not the first time the “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” star found herself in the midst of controversy.
asserted
star → find → controversy
Last year, her American Eagle “good jeans” ad was widely criticized online as promoting eugenics, an outdated and discredited pseudo-science.
asserted
ad → criticize → eugenics
Team Canada and Canadian athletes join the backlash
Canadian sprint canoeist Sophia Jensen addressed the campaign with a video on TikTok captioned, “It’s 2026, stop it,” alongside hashtags including #womeninsports.
asserted
It → join → womeninsports
Team Canada also joined in with a video captioned: “This is what women in sports look like.”
asserted
women → join → sports
Twenty-five-year-old Olympic alpine skier Cassidy Gray, who won gold at the World Junior Championships, also shared her thoughts on TikTok in a video that garnered more than 350,000 likes and 3 million views.
asserted
that → win → likes
“If you don’t think something is wrong with this ad that tells me you didn’t have to fight tooth-and-nail for every step of your career just to prove that you deserve it just as much as men,” Gray said.
asserted
Gray → think → men
Sweeney and Novig respond
asserted
Sweeney → respond → ?
Despite all the negative reaction, Sweeney appeared to defend her participation in the racy ad campaign by posting Instagram stories of covers from ESPN’s “Body Issue” which featured a number of professional athletes posing nude.
asserted
which → appear → athletes
Novig also posted a few statements by Sweeney on its website.
asserted
Novig → post → website
“The campaign was about embracing a fun idea” she said.
asserted
she → embrace → idea
“The concept is simple: cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports.
asserted
concept → cut → sports
The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humour and a playful edge.”
asserted
campaign → bring → confidence
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