Sydney Sweeney’s ad puts a risky new industry in the spotlight

September 15, 2026 — 2:00pm

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Actor Sydney Sweeney knew exactly what she was doing when she posed semi-naked for an American sports prediction platform, drawing widespread condemnation from female athletes. So did Novig, the company behind the salacious advertisement, practically unknown before deliberately launching itself into the middle of a social media outrage cycle.

Sweeney and Novig are a perfect match. The actor has distracted from a promising Hollywood career and immense mainstream popularity with a campaign that is designed to spark outrage. Her 2025 campaign for budget outfitter American Eagle, which highlighted her “great jeans”, was accused of promoting eugenics, and generated considerable social media backlash.

Now, she has emerged as the latest public face of a growing industry that has flourished by skirting the outer limits of taste and operating in a gap in the law.

“Sydney first came to us as an investor with an interest in prediction markets,” Novig’s co-founder and chief executive Jacob Fortinsky wrote on LinkedIn last week.

“She’s now also a strategic partner who helped shape the creative and served as the face of our first major brand campaign.”

It’s no surprise that Novig’s latest........

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