WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • Sydney Sweeney surprised followers by wearing a brunette wig during an afternoon with her best friend at the Santa Monica Pier.
  • One Instagram user said they did not recognize Sweeney, while another praised her brunette appearance.
  • Sweeney’s Novig sports betting advertisements drew criticism from athletes who objected to the campaign’s portrayal of women in sports.
  • Billy Bush called Sweeney’s marketing strategy brilliant and said she secured equity in Novig before the advertisement reached 40 million views.

Sydney Sweeney gave followers a dramatic double take on Wednesday, trading her familiar blonde appearance for a brunette wig during an afternoon at the Santa Monica Pier. The actress shared a carousel of playful photos from the outing on social media.

Sweeney said the change came at the suggestion of her best friend, who joined her for the waterfront excursion. "When ur bestie shows up and says 'here put this wig on,'" Sweeney captioned the post, directly explaining the surprise makeover.

 

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A post shared by Sydney Sweeney (@sydney_sweeney)

The brunette look proved convincing enough to leave at least one commenter startled by her appearance. "I didn’t even recognise her," one Instagram user wrote, while another offered an approving verdict: "I like this brunette version."

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Her outing arrived amid a separate storm surrounding her controversial advertising campaign for Novig. The sports betting ads have drawn fierce criticism from female athletes and other critics who accused the company of sexualizing women in sports.

In the original advertisement, Sweeney appeared nearly nude while posing with sports equipment and telling viewers that the platform was "just sports." The provocative presentation quickly attracted objections from Olympians and professional athletes.

Swimmer Ariarne Titmus described the advertisement as a "kick in the face" to women who have devoted their lives to sports. Gymnast Gracie Kramer accused the campaign of marketing women’s sports "through the male gaze."

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British sprinter Amy Hunt also criticized the advertisement, saying it presented an inaccurate picture of what women in sports look like. Together, the complaints kept the focus on the campaign’s presentation of female athletes and sports.

Sweeney later appeared to answer the criticism by posting images of famous athletes who had posed nude for ESPN’s Body Issue. The athletes featured in those images included Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe and Caroline Wozniacki.

On Sunday, Sweeney pushed the campaign further in another Novig commercial. She ditched her top, wore only white underwear, and strategically covered herself with footballs while directly addressing the attention surrounding the advertisements.

"There are grown men making spreadsheets to bet on what color underwear I’m wearing," Sweeney says in the advertisement posted on Instagram. She then adds, "I mean, I’m flattered?"

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The actress also jokes about someone "betting their 401(k) on a war" before returning to the campaign’s central message. She concludes the commercial by saying, "Novig is … just sports."

 

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A post shared by Sydney Sweeney (@sydney_sweeney)

The follow-up advertisement arrived despite the criticism generated by the original campaign. Rather than stepping away from the concept, Sweeney returned with another provocative appearance that directly referenced people betting on details about her underwear.

Billy Bush defended Sweeney’s approach during a discussion with Jesse Watters, calling her marketing strategy "brilliant." Bush said Sweeney had secured equity in Novig before the advertisement accumulated 40 million views.

Bush compared the controversy with previous outrage involving American Eagle and ESPN’s Body Issue. He also argued that critics eventually move on, placing the response to Sweeney’s campaign within a pattern of public uproar that later fades.

Against that contentious backdrop, Sweeney’s brunette wig offered a lighter surprise for her followers. The photos from Santa Monica Pier focused on an afternoon with her best friend, while the dramatic hair change made the actress nearly unrecognizable to some viewers.

The social media post showed Sweeney embracing the unexpected disguise while the debate over her Novig advertisements continued. Her brunette appearance earned immediate reactions, but the sports betting campaign remained the source of much sharper public scrutiny.

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