British sprinter Amy Hunt has voiced concern that a controversial advertisement featuring actress Sydney Sweeney could create a “barrier” to girls’ participation in sport. The commercial for a sports betting company shows the American actress unclothed while covering herself with various pieces of sporting equipment.
Hunt challenges advertising narrative after Budapest victory
The 24-year-old athlete spoke out after running a season’s best 22.10 seconds in the 200m final at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Sunday. In a direct response to the campaign’s imagery, Hunt declared:
“This is what women in sport look like.”
Female athletes speak out against objectification
Hunt is among several female athletes who have criticized the advertisement’s messaging. Speaking to Good Morning Britain, she emphasized the importance of function over appearance in athletic role models:
“When we’re trying to provide role models for young people and young women in sport, we really want to show that it’s about what your body can do, not so much what it looks like.”
Hunt highlighted alarming participation statistics to underscore her point:
“When we see the stats of 64% of young girls dropping out of exercise and sport before they reach the age of 16, we don’t need to place any kind of barrier whatsoever in their way in terms of providing the opportunity and the empowerment for them to still exercise, whatever that looks like – professional or kind of just going to do a Parkrun with your friends.”
She continued her argument for inclusive, appearance-neutral participation:
“So it’s about empowering young girls and young women and young people to show that you really can just get out there, and you don’t have to worry what you look like. You don’t have to worry about what you’re wearing.”
Breakthrough season adds weight to advocacy
Hunt’s platform has grown following a breakthrough season that included four gold medals at the European Championships in Birmingham last month. She offered a raw description of elite athletic reality:
“sport is not pretty”
She described how she is often sick during training sessions or in tears when things do not go to plan, contrasting the gritty reality with the stylized advertisement.
Public response outweighs original controversy
Hunt noted that the backlash against the advertisement has surpassed the initial controversy in impact:
“The reaction has almost outweighed the moment because the first thing I saw was all of the positive compilations of women in sport.”
Organisations contacted by BBC Sport declined to comment publicly on the issue, citing concern that engagement would give the campaign and the betting company additional publicity.
Media critic labels campaign regressive
Harriet Walker, fashion editor at The Times, told Woman’s Hour she viewed the advertisement as a step backward for women’s representation:
“When women’s bodies are this accessible, the rest of us are taken less seriously and I think using that level of nudity and it’s not just nudity, it’s provocative sexual poses, it’s sort of turning the clock back to when you had naked women advertising cigarettes or women in bikinis on game shows.”
Walker argued the campaign reduces women to visual objects for male consumption:
“It’s using women’s bodies as a means to grab and maintain male attention and it is the bodies that are doing the talking, not the women. I find that incredibly depressing.”
