The problem wasn’t the ad — it’s the pattern
It didn’t take long for the conversation to shift from curiosity to criticism surrounding the recent Sydney Sweeney sports betting ad. Sydney took the screen nearly nude, covering parts of her body with various sports equipment in an attempt to promote Novig, an online sports betting app. The ad in itself was designed to get attention — and attention it got.
People took to social media explaining how, instead of celebrating a women’s space in sports, it felt like something we’ve seen time and time again: a woman’s body being used to sell something.
And for a lot of women, this didn’t sit right.
The backlash
We are seeing outrage online from female athletes all over. Women who have spent years training, competing, and fighting to be taken seriously in spaces that haven’t always respected or welcomed them.
Women’s sports are finally getting the attention they deserve. More visibility, more viewership, and definitely more recognition. And yet, moments like this remind us how quickly the focus can shift back to appearance instead of performance. That’s what made this ad feel so different. It didn’t just miss the mark; it felt like a step backward.
But I see something powerful emerging from this situation. I see women coming together as a collective to shut this ad down. The power wasn’t in the ad itself, but rather in the response it has gained.
Gymnast Gracie Kramer posted a video montage of several different women participating in their sports, showing what female athletics actually looks like: training, strength, discipline, real work. Her message was simple: this is what a real woman in sports looks like.
And it resonated.
Athletes across different sports followed, posting their own versions and shifting the conversation in a whole new direction. What we saw starting as backlash grew into something bigger, a reminder that women in sports are more than an ad or an image. They’re effort, grit, and skill.
A Controversial Past
What makes this whole situation even more interesting to the gazing eye is that this is not Sydney’s first time in the spotlight of a controversial ad.
Let’s scroll back a year or so back. Perhaps you remember the tagline, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.” Well, the American Eagle ad definitely caught people’s attention, and not just because it was catchy. The whole “genes vs. jeans” wordplay swept across the internet and didn’t go unnoticed. Some laughed it off and saw it as clever marketing, but others pointed out how easily it leaned into dangerous territory. As in eugenics and racial territory. Many agreed that the commercial had come off as tone deaf and extremely problematic. People began to question how the ad passed through all the way to TV without being flagged as potentially controversial because of its “clever” phrasing.
Oh, and let’s not forget the bathwater soap. Yes, it’s exactly how it sounds: real soap made with her bathwater. She partnered with Dr. Squatch to sell a limited edition product that included drops of her used bathwater, and let’s just say the internet had a lot to say about it. Once again, there were people who thought it was funny and a goofy marketing stunt, but much of the backlash pointed out that it was yet another example of a brand using a woman’s body to sell and make a profit.
On their own, each ad might not seem like a huge deal. But when you start piecing them together, it almost stops feeling random and starts feeling more like a pattern. A pattern in which attention circles back to how a woman looks or how her body can be marketed, rather than what she actually brings to the table.
Sweeney’s Response
As the backlash has flooded in, Sydney was quick to defend herself in a teary-eyed Instagram story referencing publications like Sports Illustrated and their nude and semi-nude magazine covers. And while yes, that did happen, context matters here. And for a lot of people, there’s quite a large difference between athletes choosing to showcase their athletic builds as a reflection of their strength and discipline, and Sweeney’s non-athlete body being used to market something connected to sports. One represents what the body can do. The other reduces it to what it looks like.
It’s not new — It’s just repackaged
And honestly, this whole conversation didn’t come out of nowhere; it’s just a more modern version of something women in sports have been dealing with for years. Female athletes have always been judged more on how they look than on what they can actually bring to the table. If they’re strong, powerful, and muscular, suddenly the conversation shifts. Instead of celebrating that strength as they would with a man, people start questioning a woman’s worth and talent, saying they’re “too muscular,” “not feminine enough,” or just not “appealing” to watch.
You can see it with athletes like Serena Williams, who has been criticized for her body her entire career, despite being one of the greatest tennis players of all time. And more recently with Angel Reese, who’s faced constant commentary that has nothing to do with her performance and everything to do with how she looks.
It’s a double standard that’s honestly hard to just sit back and ignore. Women are expected to be strong, but not too strong. Athletic, but still attractive. Confident, but in a way that’s still comfortable for other people to look at. So when an ad like this goes viral, it doesn’t feel like a cute and creative ad. It feels like it’s feeding into the same narrative women athletes have been trying to push back against for years.
A woman’s thoughts
To me, this isn’t about one ad. And it’s not about tearing another woman down. It’s about recognizing a bigger issue: even as we women continue to make progress in sports and beyond, the way we are presented doesn’t always evolve with us.
But what made this moment different was that women didn’t just criticize it; they responded with something better.
They showed what strength actually looks like.
They showed what effort actually looks like.
They showed what being an athlete actually means.
At the end of the day, this whole conversation comes down to just one thing, the difference between being seen and being respected in all spaces. Women in sports don’t need to be made visible; they already are. What they need is for that visibility to reflect who women actually are, not just how they look. And if this situation proved anything, it’s that they’re done letting anyone else define that for them.