At this point, we’ve all seen or at least have heard of the newest Sydney Sweeney ad.
Long story short, the ad is a disgrace.
A sports betting app, Novig, created this ad where a practically nude Sydney Sweeney holds various sports equipment to barely cover her body and says the word “sports,” in what I’m guessing is supposed to be a seductive voice, multiple times.
Most definitely, the ad is supposed to push the buttons of the female and non-brain-dead male population due to the large amounts of backlash her American Eagle jeans ad caused.
The ad is also proving the point we all know, sex sells. Novig understands that most of their audience is male and would eat up an ad where an attractive woman is nude and talking about sports and gambling, both very stereotypical likes of men.
Many female athletes have voiced their opinions on the ad, so far not one has been positive, which in my opinion is rightfully so.
It is known that Sweeney is not an athlete, but any A-list celebrity like her is going to have some representation of the female population.
By that, I mean her actions and choices are negatively reflecting on women. For example, when you wear a shirt of the college you go to, you are therefore representing that school, and your actions will reflect onto the college or university.
Sweeney is very obviously not the face of women’s sports, but she is still representing women while also disrespecting them at the same time.
This ad is not necessarily misrepresenting women in sports, but women as a whole. Due to her oversexualization of her body, it is negatively impacting people’s views on women’s bodies in general.
It is reducing women to their bodies, not their abilities.
That is where I can start to understand and reflect on the words of the female athletes. As a former athlete myself, I want to be known for my abilities and my accomplishments, not my body.
Back to my previous points on how sex sells, I understand that Sports Illustrated and ESPN have both done photoshoots and magazine articles where famous athletes are shown semi-nude to promote themselves, but it has never been to this degree.
Due to Sweeney’s multiple controversies and oversexualization of herself, she is mostly seen as a sex figure. The athletes that had been portrayed in the mentioned articles/photoshoots are not remembered for their nudity, but they are known for their achievements and what they have done in the world of athletics. When someone thinks of Sweeney, they are bound to think of her character from the show Euphoria, who is the exact sex figure she has become today.
It is more so the fact that Sweeney chose to represent women in this manner and link it to sports in order to increase revenue for Novig along with her personal monetary gain. I don’t believe Sweeney herself is the problem, I believe her sexualizing actions are.
The last thing our bodies need is to be sexualized. And this goes for both men and women.
It’s not jealousy, it’s disappointment.