The internet is in a frenzy over Sydney Sweeney's latest ad campaign, but golf star Charley Hull isn't having any of the outrage. In a series of Instagram Stories, Hull made it crystal clear where she stands on the controversial photoshoot, telling critics to take a chill pill.
Sweeney, one of Hollywood's hottest actresses, posed in minimal clothing for Novig, a sports prediction market company. The ad sparked immediate backlash, with several female athletes calling it out for sexualizing women's sports. One athlete wrote, "I can't describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this. How do we live in a world where monetizing a woman's body and sexualizing women's sport is still a thing?"
Another athlete voiced concerns about the message it sends to young girls: "Seeing this whole Sydney Sweeney controversy just confirms what I already knew I have to teach my daughters, sooner than later. My girls are going to grow up in a world where they're going to learn really quick that attention has value, especially for girls. Appearance can get you attention: likes, comments, followers, money, opportunities. All of that is very real. What I want them to understand is that attention and value are not the same thing."
But Hull, never one to shy away from speaking her mind, dismissed the outrage with a mix of sarcasm and common sense. "My opinion on the @sydney_sweeney advert? People are genuinely getting (expletive) off because an actress/model is… modelling in an advert. That is quite literally her job," she wrote. "Not everything needs a 45-minute psychological breakdown and a public inquiry. Sometimes a pretty woman in an advert is just a pretty woman in an advert. The world will keep spinning, I promise."
Hull's take echoes a sentiment shared by many who see the backlash as overblown. The debate has even spilled into other sports, with similar controversies making headlines, like a viral swim team photoshoot that sparked its own hypocrisy debate. It seems every time a woman in sports poses in something revealing, the internet collectively loses its mind.
Novig's founder, Jacob Fortinsky, is also standing by the ad. "As a company, we're hugely supportive of women's sports," he said. "We never intended to portray female sports. Sydney's an actress. We're a prediction market that is focused on sports, and that was the story she was communicating."
Fortinsky's defense highlights a key point: Sweeney is an actress, not an athlete, and the ad is about her star power, not about women's sports. But that hasn't stopped the critics from piling on, with some even calling for a boycott of the company. The controversy has become so heated that even sports radio host Craig Carton weighed in, saying only "crazy people" hate the ad.
Hull's response is a breath of fresh air in a world where every little thing becomes a culture war battleground. She's right—sometimes a pretty woman in an ad is just that. And as she pointed out, the world will keep spinning, whether you're offended or not.
For those still fuming, Hull's advice is simple: get over it. The ad is here to stay, and so is Sweeney's career. And if you're still upset, maybe take a page from Sophie Cunningham's playbook and just tell the critics to kick rocks.
