by Chloe Cha ’28

Sweeney’s divisive ad creates backlash over degrading women and girls.

“You think you know sports? Prove it.”

This is what Sydney Sweeney said at the start of her ad for Novig, a sports-prediction/trading app. During the 58-second long ad, she appears with little to no clothes on, using sports equipment or her hair to barely cover herself. Clearly, the ad was made for Novig’s demographic of young men, with Sweeney directing multiple sexual innuendos towards the audience while leaving little to the imagination with what she was “wearing.” Where’s the respect for the female athletes, who have fought for years, if not decades, to prove that they can do what men can do in sports and should be taken seriously? 

Of course, Sweeney is sexually objectifying herself on purpose, as she’s getting a lot of attention plus money from it. She’s already learned that sex sells with her “genes” ad with American Eagle a year ago. But imagine a young girl, planning on or already doing a sport: she gets home, excited to watch some TV or scroll on social media, and then witnesses that ad. How badly could that damage one’s self image to think that the only good thing that will come out from playing a sport is the objectification of herself? 

Women have fought to hold the title as an athlete for years, as far back as the 1970s. A statistic made by the Women’s Sports Foundation says that before Title IX was created by Congress, only one in 27 girls played sports. Today that percentage has gone from one in 27 to every two in five. 

  I am a part of that two in five percentage, and I find this ad absolutely disgusting and degrading to myself and the women from past generations who fought so hard to prove their place. Sweeney’s ad puts a negative spin on female athletes, harming young girls’ perspectives on sports and if they are truly ‘worthy enough’ to play in the first place or if they exist just to be objectified.

  We can see the objectification in young women throughout history. Figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva once mentioned how “being a 14 year old athlete I was told to pad my costume because I didn’t have breasts, so how are we supposed to earn points for the components.” 

  Track athlete Emily Cole posted how “90% of girls drop out of [sport] by age 16 because they’re taught that as a female, APPEARANCE matters more than PERFORMANCE” after Sweeney’s ad was released. 

   Anyone and everyone can see this ad; it even appeared as a billboard in the New York Times Square. The ad also can be viewed by young kids as some sites don’t have a restriction on it. Sweeney’s ad puts down the effort of women from around the world and is causing more harm than good for the future generation of female athletes. Shouldn’t we promote self-love, especially to young girls? My message to Sweeney: don’t bring down what female athletes built up for your own selfish benefit when you are a woman yourself.