Powerade Claps Back at Novig's Sydney Sweeney Ad With "Never Just Sports"

Novig picked a fight about what counts as "just sports." Powerade decided to answer it.

The sports drink brand's new "Never Just Sports" spot, running as a digital out-of-home placement in Times Square, is a direct response to Novig's "Just Sports" campaign, which launched September 9 starring Sydney Sweeney. That ad showed Sweeney nearly nude, covering herself with footballs, basketball hoops, hockey pads, and a pool cue, as a visual pun on the sports-prediction app's sports-only focus. It drew immediate criticism from female athletes who said the imagery undermined progress for women in sports. Four-time Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus said she was "infuriated," asking how society could still be "monetizing a woman's body and sexualizing women's sport." British sprinter Amy Hunt countered on camera: "This is what women in sport look like. Muscles, hard work, sweat, blood, tears."

Powerade's rebuttal borrows Novig's own language and flips it. Where Novig used "just sports" to separate its betting markets from ones covering politics, wars, and deaths, Powerade's spot argues the opposite: women's sports are never just sports, pointing to the determination, resilience, and influence female athletes bring to the field. Leah Macko, VP of brand marketing for Powerade, said, "We felt it was important for Powerade to share our perspective and reinforce what's always been at the heart of our brand," noting the brand's history working with athletes including Flau'Jae Johnson, Sha'Carri Richardson, Katie Grimes, Alex Morgan, and Tatjana Smith.

The controversy has not exactly hurt Novig's business. The company reported first-time depositors rose more than 218% in the 20 days around its launch, alongside a roughly 94% jump in trading volume and a reported $2 billion valuation. Whether Powerade's response dents that momentum or just extends the news cycle for both brands is the real question. Wharton marketing professor Americus Reed had already warned about the dynamic at play before Powerade even entered the picture, calling it "controversy dependence": each new controversy, he said, "purchases less attention while carrying more reputational risk."

Source: DesignRush

Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →