A sports betting ad featuring American actress Sydney Sweeney has drawn global backlash from female athletes.
Australian Olympians Ariarne Titmus and Tilly Kearns are among those condemning the advertisement.
The ad is for Novig, a sports prediction market company.
It shows Sweeney posing almost nude with different pieces of sporting equipment.
Background
Novig is a U.S. sports prediction market, where users bet against each other.
Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky told news organisation Front Office Sports that Sweeney approached him about a stake in the company, and is now a shareholder alongside her role in the advertising campaign.
In February, the company was valued at $US500 million ($AU750 million).
Backlash
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U.S. gymnast Gracie Kramer was one of the first high-profile female athletes to respond, posting a clip with a caption saying: “idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sport looks like”.
The trend has since spread among elite female athletes worldwide, all sharing footage of themselves competing.
Ariarne Titmus, a four-time Olympic swimming champion, posted on her Instagram story: “How do we live in a world where monetising a woman's body and sexualising women's sport is still a thing?”
Aussie water polo player Tilly Kearns posted a montage of her sporting career with the caption: “Like what are we doing … so much worse than I imagined too. Here's some real women sports content.”
Sweeney response
In an apparent reply to the widespread criticism, Sweeney posted images to her Instagram stories from ESPN's Body Issue, a feature that runs nude photos of elite athletes.
She posted images of tennis champion Serena Williams, former UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, and NFL player Myles Garrett.
She ended the post with a photo of herself from the campaign.
