Actress and Hollywood “it” girl, Sydney Sweeney has been receiving a ton of backlash for a recent advertisement for a sports trading app known as Novig, where she appeared completely nude. Sex sells, as they say, and when it comes to Sweeney, business is good. The Housemaid star decided to strike back at her critics by sharing photographs of athletes who have ditched their clothes in the past.
Sweeney, most well-known for her role in HBO Max’s hit series Euphoria, seemed to poke fun at all of the negative comments and feedback she was receiving for going nude in the ad by posting a series of photos to her Instagram Stories featuring Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, and Caroline Wozniacki, posing naked for various magazines.
The ad that started all of the fuss shows Sweeney stripped down to her bare and likely most lucrative “assets” for a rather provocative advertisement featuring her in various athletic wear or with strategically placed equipment, repeating the word “sports” throughout the video. The actress not only shared female athletes who posed in the buff, but a few male athletes too.
She highlighted Myles Garrett, Rob Gronkowski, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Jason Kelce. While Sweeney didn’t respond directly to the negative comments shared on the post featuring the ad, her Instagram Stories seems to be a subtle reply to users who claimed they were “disgusted” and “disappointed” after watching the commercial. “As a former athlete and a woman who has personally experienced sexualized comments, I’m genuinely disgusted and disappointed by this campaign,” one Instagram user said in the comment section.
According to Breitbart, another user whined, “We’ve spent years fighting to be seen and respected for our talent, strength and achievements, not reduced to our bodies.” Another huffed, “It’s too bad she couldn’t do an ad like this with her clothes on.” Some conservatives wondered if Sweeney were openly left-wing she would be praised for her “bold and brave” embracing of her sexuality.
Sweeney sat down for an interview with Variety a week ago, where she shared some of her thoughts about the ad campaign, saying, “The campaign was about embracing a fun idea. The concept is simple: cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports. The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humor and a playful edge.”
The ad starts with the actress looking into the camera, saying, “Think you know sports? Prove it,” while strategically clutching two footballs against her exposed breasts. “Novig is just sports, so they wanted to show…” she continues as the camera zooms out to show her topless while sitting on a basketball hoop, the only thing keeping her breasts even a little hidden being her long hair.
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The same sort of thing happens during a montage featuring Sweeney with different pieces of equipment or bits of a uniform covering some of her nudity, telling viewers how they can make predictions on different sports on the app, including tennis, hockey, golf, football, and soccer, just to name a few. It’s worth noting that a lot of the flack she’s taken for the ad has come from liberals.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video