Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - The Ad Everyone’s Arguing About Right Now | Itty Bitty Bit

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

We chat the backlash around Sydney Sweeney’s naked sport gambling ad and whether people are giving it way more power than it deserves.     Join the Itty Bitty Hitty Committee HERE!Instagram:  @THEHITSBREAKFASTFacebook: The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & Megan See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Morning. Okay. We're going to talk about Sydney Sweeney's sports gambling ad. So she has made an ad for this sports gambling company that she also has equity in. Oh, does she? And yeah, the ad has drawn criticism because it shows her posing naked in different sportswear. You obviously can't see it on the radio, but this is what it sounds like. Think you know sports? Prove it. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports. And she's... wearing sportswear in different states of undress. And covering herself with, you know, like basketballs and stuff. I see.

So, and then just saying the word sports over and over again. She's someone that probably polarises people. Would you be fair in saying? You're right? There was another campaign, an ad campaign for jeans that sort of did, you know, polarise people as well. So I guess going into it, maybe this was designed to be getting people talking, provocative. Provocative, yeah.

So female athletes and women in sport have criticized the ad saying it's, set them back years. Rather than explain how they feel about it, here is Jocelyn Bartram. She's an Aussie hockey player. I'm not finding it disappointing because it's a female putting her body out there. I'm finding it disappointing because of the way female sports are being portrayed and the sexism that's implied throughout the whole ad and the way that it really, for me, is trying to bring female athletes and female sports right back to the days where we were only known because sex sells. And that's all, that's the only way that we could get attention on any of our sports. And so my outrage comes from feeling like we're being dragged back

after working so hard in the past, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50 years to progress how women's sports are viewed by the general public. Okay, let me preface this by saying Sydney, Sweeney is not the hill I want to die on, okay? But I also have an issue with people's telling Sydney Sweeney what she can and can't wear because it wasn't that long ago, we're like, my body, my choice. So she can choose to do the ad. She can choose to be in various states of undress. You can also not like it, but I think it kind of, it goes against everything I believe to chuck all this on Sydney Sweeney when I don't think she is the problem. Well, you did say Rhonda Rousey, UFC fighter, Serena Williams, have both done naked commercials in the past.

And I know that because that was Sydney Sweeney's. defense. She put up a carousel of lots of sports people, men and women who have posed in different states of undress. And I guess the argument is that they are athletes. But also I think it kind of seems like a bit of a leap to go from Sydney Sweeney posing hot, clearly marketing to younger men to do this gambling website. I didn't get the connection between women's sport and Sydney Sweeney. She looked like she was a model posing in the gear. So I, I, I, I get your point. Like I don't, yeah, and what this needs is a man's opinion.

Well, that's the thing I feel like, yeah. Oh, you're an opinion. Yeah, no, but at the same time, I often feel like, you know, like the people that affects, which is, you know, woman and women in sport and stuff that I want to hear from you, you know, on this. Why are you on a man's, you know, like, it's not the person. Well, and again, this is my issue is that now we're all the, it seems to be like women who are fighting.

So now we're all fighting each other again. And we're picking on someone who is clearly very attractive. And she posed, like, you know, in various states of undress, but she's allowed to and she's hot. And I also do a sports podcast, talking about where you get your podcasts, if you want to go listen to it. What's this a plug for, mate? Have you done a naked photo shoot for that?

But you guys know how hard I grafted to get that out here. And that's probably the frustrating thing for a lot of people. I truly believe that's because I'm a girl and people don't come to me for motorsport. don't project motorsport. And I face some sexism with being a lover of motorsports. So I totally get how women aren't taken seriously. And our sports is not given the attention. It's not given the money.

It's not given the praise that it should be. And not the celebration. It deserves, you know, with the amazing female athletes that we do have around the water. My daughter has been part of a campaign like encouraging, sorry to interrupt, young people, young girls to stick with sport. Because most of them drop out by the time they're 16, you know? and boys carry on because they're judged and because they feel like they need to be good and perfect

at all these things. So you want young girls and you want young females to like, it's a really cool thing they're part of to go out there and have fun and not being afraid of being judged and so I guess that's where this thing is a hot button for some people. But also you're putting too much power on this commercial. Is it really taking women's sports back decades?

See, I don't think so because I think women's sports it can speak for itself nowadays. We know, like the black ferns. Yeah, incredible. In New Zealand, especially we have amazing women's sports. And I don't, I actually didn't associate that with women's sports. Two can be true.

She can be, she can do her thing. We all have her thoughts about that. She can be doing this ad and being hot. And women can be great at sports. They can both live. And I don't think that they need to coincide. And we should stop arguing with each other. Because now women are just picking on other women again.

Ironically, if they'd said nothing about the ad, it probably would have had as much attention. Yeah.