By JESSICA SCHIEBER
Women who like sports or who are in the sports industry have been faced with a major problem. That problem is Sydney Sweeney’s ad for Novig. Novig is a sports prediction market and trading platform, but the issue with this ad isn’t what Novig is, but rather how Sweeney had appeared in the ad.
The entire ad is Sweeney appearing nude using different equipment from various sports to cover herself. This has set back many steps of equality in the eyes of many female athletes.
How are women supposed to move forward when everyone is holding them back, even they hold themselves back?
Gymnasts, figure skaters, swimmers, and rugby players have all spoken about how they dislike the ad and how it didn’t show the truth about women in sports.
This has also affected the female athletes on campus. Braxtyn Turner a junior mass communication major and defender for NWOSU soccer from Yukon said, “As a woman who plays sports, but also has interest in sports marketing and broadcasting, it definitely took me by surprise and I feel like it definitely sets back all the work women have done to feel equal in the sports world, whether it’s you’re playing or working with it.”
Her opinion wasn’t all bad as she pointed out “the ad did work. I mean, people were talking about it and before the ad, I had never even heard of the brand. So, it is working, but probably not for the best.”
A senior cross-country runner, Cadence Long said, “In my opinion I don’t think it is a huge backpedal for female athletes in the context of being a woman in sports. The ad is not necessarily aimed to diminish women’s sports and say women can’t or shouldn’t be athletes. The ad is aimed specifically to sexualize the women who compete in sports. This ad damages how female athletes perceive themselves and what their body looks like rather than what their body does for them to compete. The sexualization of female athletes is not what sports are about, and that’s where Sydney Sweeney and Novig messed up.”
Former UCLA gymnast Gracie Kramer made a response on her Instagram, gracie.kramer. In that post she wrote “I’ve spent my entire life competing in a sport that taught me just how strong, capable, resilient, and powerful women can truly be. And as my platform continues to grow, I have an immense responsibility to use it for good.”
After finishing fourth in the 200m at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship on Sunday, a British sprinter who has won four European Championship gold medals last month, Amy Hunt said “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women is sport look like: 21.4. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears. This is a beautiful evening.”
To many this ad just sticks women back into the boxes that they have fought so hard to escape. The ad is just sickening to many women who are trying to prove they have a part in the world of sports, and its equally as sickening to the women who have been told that they’re only fans of a sport because the players are good looking.
Not only athletes but females who work within the sports industry have had voiced that the ad got a reaction from them that wasn’t a pretty one.
Women who do sports are already sexualized especially in sports like figure skating. This ad isn’t justice for women, and it justifies what men already do. The ad wasn’t made for females; it was made for the male gaze.
Many athletes have fought to prove that they are more than their bodies, and this ad isn’t about the sport; it isn’t about the trading platform that Novig is. It’s about a woman whose body is being used to make money. It’s about a group of people who don’t actually care about sports.
In part of the ad, Sweeney says, “Think you know sports?” A phrase that many female fans have heard their entire lives. That along with people saying, “name five players then.” This is another reason that female fans are turned off from the sports industry and sports life. It becomes near impossible for a woman to be a fan without a man looking down on her for being one.
I witnessed this behavior when I tell people that I am a fan of the New Jersey Devils. People instantly go “well, it’s because Jack Hughes is attractive, isn’t it?” The attractiveness of a player doesn’t draw me closer to the sport, but because I’m a female it becomes everyone’s first guess.
Fans of female sports and athletes are also disappointed with the ad. Some even creating their own “Think you know sports” posts on TikTok. I saw many of these TikToks before I ever saw Sweeney’s ad.
Seeing all these fans gather and correct a wrong made me feel proud to be a female who has an interest in sports. Many fans have posted videos of women in sports and have made captions that say, “This is women in sports” or “Instead of watching Sydney Sweeney’s ad let’s watch actual women in sports.” These responses have raised popularity on my own TikTok account, and I’m sure it’s the same for many others.
Women are fighting to keep the length that they have but Sweeney’s ad is making that length a smaller distance.
Novig could have reasonable made an ad that showcased real women in sports and there are some many options they had on who could have done the voice over for the ad. Instead, they decided to sexualize the female body and gain traction by having a well-known actress get nude.
This should be discussed as well because while Sweeney is in part to blame, most of the blame lands on the creator of the ad. However, many don’t think about the creator rather than the face of the ad, so Sweeney is catching a lot of earned fire because she had to have some knowledge on what this would do the female sports base.
