Updated

Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Sep 12

Sydney Sweeney Draws Backlash Over 21+ Novig Ad as Critics Say It Undermines Women in Sports

Updated

Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Sep 12

Sydney Sweeney Draws Backlash Over 21+ Novig Ad as Critics Say It Undermines Women in Sports

Q: Did Sydney Sweeney intentionally use outrage marketing to secretly boost her own equity in a controversial sports trading app?

There is no public evidence proving Sydney Sweeney deliberately used outrage marketing to boost the value of her Novig equity stake, but the available facts strongly suggest she knowingly joined — and helped shape — a campaign designed to be provocative and attention-grabbing. What is documented is that Sweeney is not just a paid spokesperson. Novig says she is a strategic partner and equity holder, and CEO Jacob Fortinsky said she approached the company about an equity partnership herself. He also said she helped craft the campaign message and that the ad was meant to be “impossible to ignore,” adding that it pushed Novig into “national discourse.” Sweeney has separately said she was involved in creative conversations from the beginning and wanted more than just to “put my face on something.” That supports the idea that she had a financial incentive for the campaign to generate visibility. It does not, however, prove a hidden plan to manufacture backlash specifically to raise her stake’s value. Equity value depends on many factors — user growth, regulation, revenue, fundraising and long-term brand strength — and controversy can damage as well as help a young company. The strongest fact-based reading is that Sweeney and Novig intentionally pursued shock-value marketing to maximize attention during Novig’s first national push and the NFL opener. Whether they expected the backlash is plausible, given her recent ad history, but that remains inference, not established fact.

3 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Sep 12

Sydney Sweeney’s new Novig campaign triggered online backlash days after the sports trading app’s launch, with critics calling the ad sexualized and inappropriate for a sports-focused, age-restricted platform.
Novig markets itself as a 21+ prediction market for sports outcomes, but the ad shows Sweeney mostly nude with sports balls and uniforms, undercutting her line that the campaign was meant to keep the focus on “just sports.”
TikTok users and sports industry workers said the spot was unsuitable around children and reinforced the idea that women in sports are valued for sexualization rather than expertise in a male-dominated field.
The criticism revives scrutiny of Sweeney’s brand partnerships after her 2025 American Eagle “great jeans” campaign drew a separate wave of backlash and forced a public response from the retailer.