Sydney Sweeney 'Soft Porn' Ad Backlash Grows Over Concern for Young Boys Watching MLB Playoffs

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Alex Call publicly asked Major League Baseball and its networks on 14 October to pull Sydney Sweeney's 'soft porn' Novig ads from playoff broadcasts, reigniting a parental backlash over what those commercials sell to children.

A Dodger's Plea Goes Viral

Call, who is not on the Dodgers' active roster for the National League Championship Series (NLCS), replied to a viral post criticising the adverts and wrote that parents 'shouldn't have to worry about this' while enjoying America's pastime with their kids.

He tagged TBS, Fox, NBC, and MLB in the plea. Genevieve Albernaz, wife of Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz, raised the same objection on her own account during the American League Championship Series (ALCS), showing the frustration spans more than one fan base.

What the Ad Is Really Selling

The sharper issue sits beneath the nudity. Novig is a sports prediction market, a platform where users trade on game outcomes much like a sportsbook. Sweeney is not a hired face. She is a strategic partner, equity holder, and creative director who approached the company herself, Fortune reported, giving her a financial interest in Novig's success, although the terms of her stake have not been disclosed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) designated Novig as a designated contract market on 16 June 2026. The platform requires users to be at least 21. Novig frames its product as trading rather than betting, but whether prediction markets fall outside state gambling rules remains contested. That regulatory grey area has drawn scrutiny, with the regulation of sports prediction markets remaining a subject of dispute between federal and state authorities.

A Family Audience Meets a Betting Pitch

That mix troubles parents far more than a racy advert alone. Common Sense Media's 2026 report, 'Betting on Boys', found that more than a third of boys aged 11 to 17 had gambled in the past year, and 60% had seen gambling ads on YouTube and social media. Playoff baseball still draws one of the largest mixed-age audiences on US television, placing a betting pitch in front of that exact group.

The Novig spots have aired beside a Megan Fox commercial for telehealth brand Ro, deepening the sense that family viewing hours now carry grown-up products. US lawmakers have already started to move. State senator Andrew Gounardes introduced a Sports Wagering and Minors Act in January seeking age checks on betting apps, while five senators pressed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study how gambling exposure affects minors.

Sweeney Doubles Down

Sweeney has treated the outrage as fuel rather than a warning. Days before Call's post, she shared a near-nude follow-up ad in which she says 'there are grown men making spreadsheets to bet on what colour underwear I'm wearing'.

The campaign helped push Novig to a $2 billion (£1.5 billion) valuation, roughly four times its February figure, according to The Information. 'The concept is simple, cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports,' Sweeney said of the campaign.

Neither Novig nor MLB has signalled any change to the ad rotation so far, which leaves parents like Call to keep explaining the commercial breaks on their own as the postseason rolls on.