By Annabel Simon, Staff Writer

Stick with me for a second as I compel you to imagine what it is like in the average sports-loving slightly-misogynistic beer-chugging man’s brain. Whatever disturbing and chauvinistic picture just came to mind, insert Sydney Sweeney’s head (or body) on it and you have the new Novig ad.

As I was scrolling through my news feed this past Wednesday, I stumbled upon an article written by Complex magazine, entailing Sydney Sweeney’s new part in an ad for sports betting. Instead of the shock and offense immediately taken to by female athletes across the country (that came next!), I had an overwhelming sense of “here we go again.” The resignation was not to Sweeney’s subpar acting or even the sexualization of women in sports, but instead to the backlash I knew was coming.

Why was this? The backlash was, at least in my opinion, very much deserved. As I traced the roots of my exhaustion back in my head, I found my answer. Do we really need to be giving Sydney Sweeney more of a platform?

Many people will remember that American Eagle ad from July of last year, also featuring Sweeney. While the public opinion was mixed (is she racist? Is she dumb?), the overall message was clear: purposefully or not, Sweeney’s ad had perpetrated the construct that genes could be ranked on a hierarchy, and an apology was perhaps in place. While I am the first to roll my eyes at unctuous celebrity atonements, it seemed the very least Sweeney could do in her position.

Instead, she stuck by the advertisement, spurring even more controversy. That very same week, American Eagle stock went up 25%. This set the precedent for what was to come next for Sweeney and relayed the trite phrase “all publicity is good publicity.” Many critics treated Sweeney as too controversial to support, affecting her career as an actress. Sweeney was now America’s new scapegoat.

That is not to say it isn’t deserved. The tone-deaf attitude of the entire “jeans-genes” campaign was almost laughable. Sexualizing oneself for a male gaze is not only demeaning but also a clear grab for attention, especially when the target audience for the ad was not men (this would come later with the Novig ad).

Aside from that, the public has taken it upon themselves to align Sweeney with the far-right “Make America Great Again” movement after photos of her family posing in the trademark red hats circulated in August of 2023, leading an average viewer to take her ads from the more “insensitive patron” perspective rather than just the “clueless blonde” point of view. Sweeney has now put herself in a position where supporting her acting has become so controversial that it seems the average American consumer will simply refuse to. This leaves one remaining way of keeping publicity (and revenue) up for Sweeney: more ads, more controversy, more attention.

Now, to tie all this back to the Novig sports ad. Just to be clear, the ad, in my mind at least, was a blatant sexualization of hardworking women that will only ever occur to the female sector of any workforce. We’ve all seen this trope play out before. The sexy nurse, the provocative secretary, the seductive police officer. Any woman just trying to do her job is seemingly destined to become a fantastical object to the male gaze.

The thing is, though, Sweeney knew that. Novig’s marketing director knew that. The casting director who chose Sweeney knew that. And the backlash to that has been incredible.

While we should punish Sweeney by simply ignoring instead of hating, I would be lying if I said watching female athletes’ comebacks hasn’t been empowering. Women on Instagram reels (originally led by Gracie Kramer) roundhouse kicking opponents or running cross country races set to Dua Lipa’s “Training Season” have given me a sense of satisfaction that Novig has left me hungry for. Is it beneficial long-term for us to keep publicizing Sweeney when we could instead be reinforcing the message while keeping her irrelevant?

It is not over for women’s sports just because of this one bad take. While the ad was harmful and the first step towards addressing it is to acknowledge that, let’s keep Sweeney’s name out of it, if only to deny her the publicity surrounding her. Instead, focus on the overarching mantra “This is what women in sports look like,” perhaps even extending the phrase to women of different workforces.

We can also simply do what is best to support female athletes: support female athletes. Maybe instead of casually flicking on the random college basketball team you don’t care about, go catch a game played by the Chicago Sky instead. Or, for that matter, flick on a random college women’s team you don’t care about. Women in sports have always been impressive. Just this week, the U.S. women’s national basketball team won the 2026 FIBA world championship. Let’s focus on lifting our female athletes up and destroying misogynistic stereotypes and stop giving Sweeney her much-yearned-for publicity.