If you haven't seen Sydney Sweeney's latest ad campaign for the sports betting app Novig, know it's definitely NSFW. While it seems we've turned a corner on the era when ad companies eschewed the notion that sex and beautiful women sell products, there are still some who aren't happy about it.
And that would be the media. Sure, there are also probably a few blue-haired land whales who despise the fact that Sweeney is gorgeous, but their opinion is irrelevant and immaterial.
Instead, I want to focus on how USA TODAY has framed this story.
Sydney Sweeney is facing mixed reactions after starring in a provocative new ad campaign for the sports betting app Novig. https://t.co/kNatjtoEuC
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 10, 2026
Reactions to the ad were mixed online.
"Why is this ad running for 4 hours straight?" one Instagram user said. Another added, "Confirmed: Sydney Sweeney knows ball." And an X user captioned a suggestive GIF, writing, "@Novig knew the assignment."
Others were more critical.
"Selling gambling by selling sex. Society is crumbling before our eyes," an X user wrote."This is sad at this point. Can't sell or be a normal girl if she doesn't use her body as a tool. Sexualizing sports like this is crazy," one person on Instagram wrote.
"Sydney Sweeney is facing mixed reactions."
Notice how it's always — only and invariably — figures who are not wholly left-wing coded who are "controversial" or face "mixed reactions"? When Barack Obama was President, he didn't get "mixed reactions," even though half the country didn't vote for him. Meanwhile, when 53 percent of the country votes for President Trump, the media and their Democrat allies insist that "this isn't who we are" as a country and that President Trump's agenda "doesn't represent our values."
Or take extremism. President Trump is "extreme," anti-abortion laws are "extreme." Enforcing immigration laws is "extreme." Meanwhile, Democrats support the gender mutilation of children, abortion on demand, excuse the murder of born children as a sad byproduct of mental illness, and want to open our borders and literally tear down this nation are just ... normal.
If your metric for anything is online reaction, good luck. You could say cute puppies would get a "mixed reaction online" because some people are allergic to dogs or don't like particular breeds.
The media did the same thing with Sweeney's "great jeans" ad several months ago.
Not a single soul genuinely believed her campaign was a Nazi, eugenicist dog whistle for white supremacy. It was a play on words featuring an insanely beautiful woman.
USA TODAY's "mixed reporting" angle is not journalism. It's not reporting. It's how the media elevates a few random online voices in support of their narrative, namely that Sydney Sweeney and provocative ads are the controversial, extreme position. This is a pattern. They did it with jeans, they're doing it with Novig, and they'll keep doing it.
