Brand owners have long sought to associate with sporting success, with the adage ‘win at the weekend, sell on Monday’ still holding true.
Many of those brand partnerships will be quickly forgotten, but some will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. The latest being the sports betting company Novig and a campaign featuring US actor Sydney Sweeney.
Sweeny has posed in varying stages of undress with strategically placed footballs, basketballs and other sporting equipment whist delivering lines about “knowing sport”. First appearing online on 9 September, the campaign has been viewed close to 39 million times.
The reaction from female athletes has been swift, global and pointed.
Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus called it infuriating, asking how the sexualisation of women’s sport “is still a thing”. British sprinter Amy Hunt used a BBC interview to address Sweeney directly, saying “this is what women in sport look like — muscles, hard work, sweat, blood, tears”.
The former US gymnast Gracie Kramer and Canadian athletes including sprint canoeist Sophia Jensen added their voices, with a wave of “Dear Sydney Sweeney” videos spreading across social media as athletes from multiple countries and sports push back.
It is not Sweeney’s first controversial advertising campaign. Jeans brand American Eagle came under fire for playing to dog whistle politics when the actor appeared alongside a provocative strapline.
Putting aside the question of Sweeney’s appeal, this latest campaign clearly seeks to sexualise female athletes and that raises reputational challenges, alienating half of the world’s population, male and female athletes together with governing bodies.
Athlete endorsement and sponsorship agreements increasingly include morality and brand-alignment clauses precisely because a single campaign can create conflict across a brand’s wider portfolio of partnerships. There is also a wider legal and regulatory backdrop – advertising standards bodies retain the power to intervene where content is judged degrading or overly sexualised, irrespective of viewing figures.
Yes, this advert has caught millions of eyeballs and plenty of media attention, but little to commend Novig and the successes of female athletes.
The most powerful and durable brand associations rest on the achievements of athletes, not what they wear (or don’t).
David Little is a Partner at Bishop & Sewell in our expert Sports Law and Corporate & Commercial teams.
If you would like to contact him, please call on either 07968 027343 or 020 7631 4141 or email: company@bishopandsewell.co.uk.
The above is accurate as at 17 September 2026.
The information above may be subject to change. The content of this note should not be considered legal advice, and each matter should be considered on a case-by-case basis.
