Op-Ed Says Sweeney 'Is Ruining Feminism.' She Gets One Thing Right.
Marist journalist Nicole Kreib names three exhibits: the Novig ad, the Syrn lingerie label, and Cassie's Euphoria arc. Only one of those charges holds up ... and it comes from a sprinter, not a student paper.
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A Marist College student journalist published an op-ed today accusing Sydney Sweeney of "ruining feminism" ... Nicole Kreib names three exhibits in The Marist Circle: the Novig nude-covered-by-sports-equipment ad, Sweeney's own Syrn lingerie label, and her Cassie arc in Euphoria Season 3. Only one of those charges actually holds up.
The part that holds up came from a sprinter, not a journalist. After the Novig ad ran in September, British World Athletics champion Amy Hunt posted a gym photo mid-race with the caption: "Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like." Express and Star reported the response landed because it was precise. The Novig ad put a non-athlete in a sports context and used her body as product placement, not as a tribute to what women actually do in sport. That critique is accurate.
What the CEO Said That Kreib Missed
Kreib cites Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky's reported acknowledgment that the ad was never meant to portray female athletes. She stops there. But Front Office Sports reported that Fortinsky also said Sweeney was the creative lead who "drove the visuals and messaging." She did not show up, get photographed, and cash a check. She co-produced the thing.
Fortune reported the ad represented a genuine fault line in sports marketing between the prediction-market industry and female athletes trying to protect how women in sport are seen. The athletes calling it out were not wrong. But attributing all of that to Sweeney personally, as a moral failure, requires a premise the reporting does not support.
The Syrn Problem With the Op-Ed
Kreib calls the Syrn lingerie campaigns "aimed at men, not women" and labels them "appalling." Syrn is Sweeney's own label, launched in January 2026. She is the brand owner. The argument that a woman who built her own lingerie company is sexualizing herself "for men" rather than running a business requires a standard Kreib does not quite establish, and does not apply to the men who founded every other lingerie company.
The structural problem with the "ruining feminism" charge is that it requires Sweeney to have signed up for something she never agreed to. She has not publicly positioned herself as a feminist icon. She is an actress who took equity in a betting startup, built her own brand, and made choices Kreib does not like. That is not ruin. That is strategy.
Kreib's piece is worth reading because the underlying question is real: when an actress with Sweeney's profile uses this type of visual language commercially, is she just making a living, or does it carry a cost that goes beyond her personal brand? That debate is sharper than the headline. The 'feminism ruiner' framing just gets in the way of having it.
Ad Watch News is an independent commentary site with no affiliation with Sydney Sweeney, Marist College, Novig, Syrn, or any brand or talent mentioned here.
Sources & further reading
- The Marist Circle: Nicole Kreib, "Sydney Sweeney is Ruining Feminism" (Oct 19, 2026)
- Front Office Sports: Novig CEO says Sweeney drove visuals and messaging of nude ad (Sept 15, 2026)
- Express & Star: Amy Hunt "this is what women in sport look like" (Sept 2026)
- Fortune: Sydney Sweeney Novig ad fault line in sports marketing (Sept 16, 2026)
- Hello Magazine: Syrn "Send Nudes" campaign (2026)
- Wikimedia Commons: Sydney Sweeney TIFF 2024, Jay Dixit, CC BY-SA 4.0
