Known for her roles as Cassie in the series Euphoria and Millie in The Housemaid, among many others, Sydney Sweeney is very successful in Hollywood.
But as they say, with fame comes hatred, and the American actress and model is receiving plenty of it.
There are few celebrities whom the public is as divided over as Sydney Sweeney – many love her, but many also seemingly hate her.
Women especially often have the opinion that the actress is sexualising herself too much and that it is anti-feminist for her to do so.
Last year, Sweeney was the face of an American Eagle ad campaign for denim jeans which caused uproar on social media.
Now, her latest project, an ad for the betting platform Novig in which the actress is posing with different sports equipment whilst being fully or partially nude, is yet again sparking a major backlash.
This led her to lose approximately 200,000 Instagram followers within 48 hours.
Women react all over the internet
The ad campaign has sparked a lot of controversy on social media, although many people say it is just an ad and not that big of a deal.
They also say that the ad is not even for sports per se, but for gambling and that Sweeney is no athlete, so she bears no responsibility.
On the other hand, there are plenty who still aren’t fans of it.
It is being said that the ad is too sexualised, that there is no need for her to show off her body like that.
In particular, women in sports and female athletes are outraged by it.
Social media has been filled with videos showing women performing stunts, playing sports, winning medals and showcasing what women in sports truly look like.
They essentially claim that the ad is degrading female athletes who have spent years and years earning respect and acknowledgment for their performances and that Sweeney is setting women in sports back to the start – being sexualised and only acknowledged for their bodies.
Australian surfer Felicity Palmateer for example said in an interview: “Just absolute utter disbelief, incredibly disappointing, like, how far you can put women’s sports backwards in the space of a 42-second commercial.”
She added that the campaign “is very damaging, especially for young females getting into sport, for females in sport, for females in general, just hypersexualized content”.
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Sweeney defends herself against ongoing backlash
In reaction to all the criticism and backlash, Sweeney has been defending herself via her social media.
She posted pictures of herself from the ad campaign alongside pictures from ESPN photoshoots with other famous athletes who have posed nude over the years, such as Serena Williams, Jason Kelce or Caroline Wozniacki among others.
So far, the actress has not made a public written or verbal statement in response to all the heat she has been getting.
Campaign a huge win for Novig
Whereas the statement that there is no such thing as bad publicity is debatable, in this instance it is true for Novig.
Since the controversy started, the platform, which was likely not even known to many before, has gained so much attention that their social media mentions grew ninefold.
According to the company, half the posts they were tagged in were neutral, around 32,8% positive and only 17,5% negative, which means that all in all their ad was a success for the company in terms of marketing.
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