The most visible prediction-market advertising of the past week ran through women’s sport, and the athletes who compete in it answered. US sports prediction market Novig released a video of actor Sydney Sweeney in minimal to no clothing, pretending to play a series of sports, presented as a celebration of the skill, strength and beauty of women’s sport. Olympic and world champions responded within days, and their objection was not to the operator’s licensing status but to what the campaign did with their competitions.
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus: “I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this. Not only is it a kick in the face to every woman who had dedicated her life to perfecting her craft, but every women who enjoys sports for what it really is — teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence, unity.” British sprinter Amy Hunt, speaking to the BBC after finishing fourth in the 200m at the Ultimate Championships, answered the ad directly with a time: “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like. 21.4. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears.” Swimmers Lani Pallister and Gracie Kramer, water polo silver medallist Tilly Kearns and the Australian Institute of Sport posted training footage under the same response.
World champion boxer Skye Nicolson drew the line the athletes were drawing: the complaint is not about how women look. “There’s a big difference between looking ‘sexy’ because you do sport compared to use sex to sell ‘sport’,” she wrote.
The face is also a shareholder
Sweeney’s involvement is not a standard endorsement. As some social media users argued the anger should be aimed at Novig rather than the actor, the Guardian reported that she is not only the face of the campaign: she joined as “strategic partner and equity holder,” according to a Novig statement. That makes the arrangement an ownership position in the operator, and it makes the criticism land on the business rather than on a performer who was hired for a day’s work.
The campaign follows a similar controversy around American Eagle’s 2025 “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” advertising, which the actor later said she had handled badly. “I was honestly surprised by the reaction,” she said at the time. “I’m against hate and divisiveness.”
What the ad is selling
What the campaign promotes is a sports-only prediction market — event contracts settled on game outcomes — and it ran into the opening week of the season, when the sports audience is largest. The athletes objecting are the people whose competitions supply the contracts being traded. Their answer, delivered as training footage, times and medals rather than as commentary on a video, was the more precise description of what the business is monetising.