Powerade has entered the chat.
The sports drink, which is created and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company, responded to Novig’s controversial “Just Sports” ad that features a nude Sydney Sweeney and joined the backlash against the sports gambling company and the actress in a new ad campaign.
Powerade released a series of videos that celebrate women athletes breaking barriers in sports such as track & field, swimming and tennis.
Each video ends with the message, “Never Just Sports” — and the Powerade Instagram account used the same caption: “There is no just in sports” with the hashtag, “PowerYourLegacy.”
Novig’s first ad, which released in September and featured Sweeney fully nude with her body being covered by sports equipment, is entitled, “Novig is Just Sports” — and many felt it was an attack on women’s sports.
Female athletes, such as Olympic swimmer Ararne Titumus and sprinter Amy Hunt, called out Novig and Sweeney for sexualizing women and setting back the progress women in sports have made.
Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky said they had no intention of portraying women’s sports in the ad.
“Sydney’s an actress,” Fortinsky told Front Office Sports last month. “We’re a prediction market that is focused on sports, and that was the story she was communicating.”
Sweeney is an equity holder in Novig.
Novig doubled down on its message in a new ad this week in which Sweeney says: “There are grown men making spreadsheets to bet on what color underwear I’m wearing.”
