I get why Sydney Sweeney is being slammed after her naked ‘Just Sports’ Novig ad racked up 22m views and enraged elite sportswomen, but as a feminist I think the backlash should target something else
People are furious at Sydney Sweeney, and I can see why. I’ve watched the clips, I’ve read the threads, I’ve heard the athletes calling it out, and I agree with a lot of what they’re saying about what the advert represents.
But as a girls’ girl, and a loud and proud feminist, I do have some concerns. You can criticise the Euphoria star for plenty of things, but I don’t think her nude photoshoot should be one of them.
The controversy blew up after her hyper-sexualised Novig campaign, “Just Sports”, dropped last week. Sydney isn’t just the face of it – she’s a strategic partner and equity holder, which means this isn’t some naive “my agent told me to do it” gig.
In the ad she’s completely nude or topless, with bits covered by sports props like basketballs, American footballs, hockey gear, a tennis racket, and even a pool table. She repeats the word “sports” nine times in this sultry, whispery cadence before landing on the line: “You can’t trade this, I just look good here.”
The ad racked up more than 22 million views in two days, igniting fury from elite sportswomen who rightfully said that it was “sexploitation” that sets women’s sport back decades.
British sprinter Amy Hunt, speaking to BBC Sport after finishing fourth in the 200m final at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, said: “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like. Muscles, hard work, sweat, blood, tears.”
Ariarne Titmus, an Australian Olympic swimming star, called the ad a “kick in the face” and “infuriating” to women who spend decades perfecting their craft rather than relying on looks for commercial value.
Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns and Canadian skier Cassidy Gray piled in too, with athletes co-opting the ad’s audio on TikTok to show the reality of brutal training.
The way women’s labour gets flattened into “eye candy”, is a valid concern. But when the online pile-on turns into shaming a woman’s nudity, that’s where I draw the line.
Nudity itself is not a scandal. Athletes have posed nude for years, often celebrated for it, most famously in ESPN Magazine’s “The Body Issue” (2009–2019).
Serena Williams did it. Venus Williams did it. Megan Rapinoe did it. Ronda Rousey did it. Brittney Griner did it. Aly Raisman did it. Even the Matildas had a calendar way back in 1999. And men? Loads – from Michael Phelps to Odell Beckham Jr to Conor McGregor.
Actors have done it for decades too, across every “respectable” magazine and every not-so-respectable one: Demi Moore’s iconic Vanity Fair cover in 1991, Jennifer Aniston naked in GQ with nothing but a tie, Lady Gaga nude in Vogue Italia. Male stars have stripped off for attention, art, branding – Burt Reynolds’ famous centre-fold pose is practically a cultural artefact.
So why are we suddenly acting like Sydney’s nudity is singlehandedly responsible for sparking misogyny and setting all women back? If she wants to be naked in an ad, and she’s consenting, and she’s getting paid, that’s bodily autonomy and commercial freedom.
There’s no feminist win in pretending a grown woman should be shamed into covering up. The world is less forgiving to famous women than it ever is to famous men.
There are male celebrities with convictions and credible allegations of genuinely heinous crimes who still get a warm PR rehab tour. Meanwhile women get dragged to hell for far less.
A better criticism against Sydney would focus her pivot towards “trad-wife” adjacent aesthetics and the way she borrows the language and imagery of sexed-up marketing for mainstream profit, while seeming unwilling to acknowledge the world she’s mimicking. Let’s not forget her seemingly unbothered response when accusations swirled around the American Eagle “great jeans” ad and claimed it flirted with eugenics-coded messaging.
Her political and cultural positioning has also become a legitimate point of contention in female spaces. Reports that she’s a registered Republican in Florida – combined with public praise from Donald Trump and JD Vance – have intensified the sense that she is aligning herself with movements many women see as directly hostile to their rights.
Add to that her public relationship with Scooter Braun, whom Taylor Swift accused of “incessant, manipulative bullying” and trying to strip her of her life’s work. These are all valid reasons to criticise Sydney; her brand choices, her politics, her accountability, and the audiences she appears to court.
But criticising her simply for posing nude is a different thing entirely, and risks sliding into old-fashioned moral policing dressed up as progressive outrage.
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