The viral ad campaign for Novig featuring Sydney Sweeney posing nude has created a wave of backlash online and now the sports prediction market site’s CEO has responded, appearing to lay some blame on the popular actress.
During a panel at Front Office Sports’ Asset Class conference, Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky addressed the controversy, defending the intended message behind the campaign.
“As a company, we’re hugely supportive of women’s sports, I think it’s a huge component of our platform,” Fortinsky said on Tuesday. “We never intended to portray female sports.”
“Sydney’s an actress. We’re a prediction market that is focused on sports, and that was the story she was communicating.”
Novig and Sweeney, in particular, had been called out by several female athletes over sexualizing women’s sports.
However, Fortinsky then made it clear that it was the Euphoria star that was a driving force behind the ad campaign and the visuals.
“It was a very exciting process to work with her both on the commercial side and the creative side,” he said. “Sydney was driving a lot of the visuals and the messaging.”
Fortinsky also said that the company knew that Sweeney and the campaign could create some backlash, but ultimately Novig has been pleased with the outcome.
“There are a lot of people who have feelings about Sydney as a person that sort of predate this campaign,” he said. “Working with her we obviously expected that the people that already hate her would be loud and vocal but ultimately, I think she did a great job at conveying the essence of our company.
“We’ve been very happy with how positive the feedback has been overall.”
What is the controversy over the ad?
The Euphoria actress went viral with her ad for Novig last week, stripping all the way down while covering herself up using a variety of sports equipment.
Since the commercial blew up on social media, many female athletes have weighed in on the potential impact of the ad on young girls who are interested in sports. Hunt had commented on Sweeney’s ad after competing in the 200-metre sprint at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.
“It was incredible to be part of such an incredible race. Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” Hunt said. “Muscles, hard work, sweat, blood, tears. This is a beautiful evening.”
That wasn’t all that Hunt had on her mind, though. During an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday morning, the track and field star doubled down, saying that it overly sexualized women’s sports.
“When we’re trying to provide role models for young people and young women in sport, we really want to show that it’s about what your body can do, not so much what it looks like,” Hunt said.
“It’s about empowering young girls and young women and young people to show that you really can just get out there and you don’t have to worry what you look like. You don’t have to worry about what you’re wearing.”
How has Sydney Sweeney responded to the criticism?
Sweeney hasn’t directly responded to the comments from the athletes or others online, but she did appear to take a swipe at her critics by sharing a gallery of images to her Instagram Story that showed magazine covers of ESPN’s Body Issue featuring several famous athletes like Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe.
Her partnership with Novig is, in Sweeney’s own words, “about embracing a fun idea.”
She added in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter, “The concept is simple: Cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports. The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humour and a playful edge.”
Is Sweeney naked in the commercial?
The commercial features Sweeney wearing little to no clothing, covering up with a wide variety of sports equipment.
“Think you know sports? Prove it,” Sweeney says in the ad, while holding two footballs over her bare chest.
“Novig is just sports, so they wanted to show just sports,” she continues in the next shot while sitting naked atop a basketball hoop and spinning a ball on her finger with her long blond hair covering her breasts.
Sweeney is then shown provocatively posing with equipment from several other sports, including tennis, soccer, baseball and hockey goalie pads.
“No betting on wars, on deaths or on politics,” she adds while lying on a locker-room bench and balancing a soccer ball on her feet. “Just you, good takes and sports.”
Several iterations of the ad have since been posted on huge billboards in Times Square, among other locations. Sweeney also shared another batch of images on Sunday, just as the NFL launched its first slate.
While Sweeney reportedly has an equity share in the company, the ad might have come at a cost for her.
According to Variety, Sweeney has lost more than 200,000 Instagram followers since the controversial ad campaign launched. However, with the actress still boasting roughly 25.8 million followers on the social media platform, it’s merely a drop in the bucket.