The Cost of the Controversy: Sydney Sweeney loses hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers after her provocative sports ad
The actress’ Novig campaign has sparked debate about how women are portrayed in sports advertising.
Sydney Sween ey has reportedly lost more than 200,000 Instagram followers after appearing in a provocative advertisement for sports prediction market Novig . The reported decline has attracted significant attention online, although it represents less than one percent of her enormous social media following.
The campaign featured Sweeney alongside sports imagery and was designed around confidence, humor and a deliberately provocative concept. According to Variety, which cited Social Blade data, Sweeney gained roughly 50,000 followers during the first three days after the campaign appeared. That growth was followed by a reported loss of 136,848 followers on Sunday and another 68,000 on Monday, according to the same figures. Sweeney had more than 25 million Instagram followers during the period, meaning the reported losses represented only a small portion of her overall audience. The numbers also do not establish that the advertisement itself caused the decline, as follower totals can fluctuate for a variety of reasons. Still, the timing has fueled discussion about the campaign and the response it received from some women in the sports world. Several female athletes criticized what they viewed as the sexualization of women within advertising that was presented against a sports-related backdrop.
Serena Williams’ husband praises strong response to Sweeney
The backlash also drew a response from Alexis Ohanian , the Reddit co-founder and Athlos founder, who said he was pleased that athletes spoke publicly. Ohanian told ESPN that the campaign appeared designed to generate a reaction, while questioning why Sweeney had been positioned within a sports conversation. “What’s so weird is Sydney Sweeney is not an athlete,” Ohanian said, before adding that the advertisement was “clearly designed to evoke a response.” He also expressed frustration with some aspects of the discussion surrounding the campaign and the reaction it generated across social media. And specifically pushed back against comparisons between the Sweeney campaign and ESPN ’s Body Issue , describing the argument as a “false equivalence.” The comparison became part of the wider debate over whether her advertisement should be viewed through the same lens as established sports photography. And the British track and field athlete Amy Hunt was among those who responded directly to the campaign and offered a contrasting message about women in sport. “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” Hunt said, highlighting the distinction between athletes and celebrity advertising. But Sweeney and her team maintained that the campaign was built around a playful concept and intended to approach the subject with confidence and humor. The reported Instagram figures provide a measurable snapshot of the reaction, but they cannot establish precisely why individual followers chose to leave. But with Sweeney still followed by more than 25 million people, the reported decline represents a relatively small change to her overall audience.
