Sydney Sweeneys provocative sports ad 'reinforces the image she has already built' despite backlash: expert

Sydney Sweeney sparked widespread backlash following the release of her provocative campaign for a sports trading app.

No stranger to controversy or criticism, Sweeney, 29, faced the music from Olympic athletes, entertainment icons and millions of keyboard warriors who voiced their opinions of the naked ad.

Adrienne Uthe, founder of Kronus Communications, exclusively told Fox News Digital that while Sweeney's latest ad may have ruffled feathers, "women having agency also means allowing women to make choices about their image that other women may not personally agree with."

"People are entitled to dislike the ad, just like women athletes are entitled to criticize it for their own reasons," Uthe said. "But I don't think this is materially damaging to Sydney Sweeney in any way, shape or form.

"In fact, I don't think it's a large departure from who she is and what her brand represents. She's a beautiful woman right now at the peak of her career, and she ultimately can decide which projects she wants to take and which ones she doesn't."

She added, "And she's chosen to make sexuality a part of her brand for better or for worse."

WATCH HERE: EXPERT WEIGHS IN ON SYDNEY SWEENEY PROVOCATIVE AD CONTROVERSY

featured several shots with strategically placed sports equipment covering her mostly nude body. "Think you know sports? Prove it. Novig is just sports. So, they wanted a show," the "Euphoria" star said in the campaign.

Several female athletes didnt appear to take too kindly to the ad. Australian Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ariarne Titmus, British sprinter Amy Hunt and former American gymnast Gracie Kramer were among those to denounce the ad.

Uthe believed Novig's creative team accomplished its goal, but stressed the significance of effective marketing.

"Going viral tells me they captured attention. It doesnt tell me they captured the customer," Uthe said.

"This is where social media completely distorts reality, and we've seen this across all platforms in pop culture, politics, sports and beyond. So the narrative that is the loudest isn't necessarily what is true and what the majority opinion is."

Uthe noted that one side claimed the ad objectified women in sports, while the other narrative questions why there's outrage over an obviously provocative ad.

"Once one of those frames takes over, whether it's through different content that someone is viewing or someone just inherently has a bias for this topic, that perception is really gonna make it a reality for them," Uthe said. "And that's why I always say, if you can make it trend, you can it true."

Olivia Bennett, senior account director at Go Up, thought that the campaign was simply "bad for women in sport."

"I can understand the commercial calculation behind choosing Sydney Sweeney," Bennett told Fox News Digital. "Novig will know its audience, and Sydney has built a public brand where sex appeal, provocation and controversy consistently generate attention.

"But this was a national campaign. When you choose someone with such a heavily sexualized and frequently controversial public image, you know the campaign is going to travel far beyond your existing customer base. The wider reaction was entirely foreseeable."

Bennett believed that the bigger issue at hand was what the ad said about women in sports.

"What I find most telling is that female athletes themselves are now pushing back and saying: this isnt how we want women in sport to be represented," she said.

"Once the people who actually work and compete in that world start using your campaign as an example of the problem, you have