Peloton: A Christmas Story?
Christmas morning is here, to now reap the benefits of all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. The pinnacle has been reached, in this moment. You have carefully planned all of your gift giving, and have imagined your wife’s reaction and the wave of surprise that will come over her when she walks down the stairs to see that Santa has delivered!
The moment of truth is here. All of the planning, the shopping, and the money spent will all be rewarded with her joy and appreciation of your excellent taste and decision making abilities, for her Christmas gift. Your wife walks down the stairs and there you stand — right next to a brand new Peloton exercise bike. Its sleek, compact design, beautifully crafted with a 22-inch sweat-proof touch screen, to connect her with her choice of instructors from across the country, each of whom will seek to motivate her. Wait. Motivate her? Motivate her to do what? Lose weight? Be healthier? At the very least, this is a risky move for a spouse. As she walks down the stairs, this could really go either way. She may be thrilled, after all, it is likely she has mentioned to him at some point, any one of the attractive aspects of the newest Peloton on the market. It is unlikely she has been shopping for an item in that price range, without mentioning it to her partner. On the other hand, she may be offended. Is the 2019 Peloton Christmas gift the equivalent of the brand new Oreck vacuum cleaner my mother was gifted in the 90’s? Fortunately for Peloton’s commercial husband and wife, the gift was very well-received. The commercial shows Christmas morning and in a thirty-one second clip, shows the lady’s journey throughout the year on her Peloton. The commercial ends with her and her husband watching what is presumably a video blog covering the course of her Peloton journey thus far. The wife comments, “I didn’t realize how much this would change me” and expresses a sincere “thank you” to her husband.
“Peloton Commercial — The Gift That Gives Back”
Although, not all viewers perceived the gift giving gesture quite like the Peloton recipient did. In fact, the commercial caused a social media fire storm for Peloton, with many people claiming the video was sexist and implied the very visibly healthy woman needed to lose weight. The company felt the heat of this critical backlash within days of the commercial’s first airing. In a Forbes article, it was reported that “regardless of the company’s intention, Peloton’s stock fell 10.5% from the closing price on Monday, before the social media frenzy, to Wednesday of the same week. It has cost Peloton more than $1 billion, with the market capitalization dropping from $10.3 billion on Monday to $9.2 billion.” Even so, Peloton’s representatives stood by their advertisement with their representatives being quoted as saying “while we’re disappointed in how some have misinterpreted this commercial we are encouraged by and grateful for the outpouring of support.” There is certainly not a unanimous interpretation of the commercial, and specifically divided camps emerged from the issue.
As a proud Peloton owner prior to the airing of this commercial, I can say that while I do love my Peloton, I cannot say I would love it quite so much, had it been given to me as a Christmas gift by my spouse. However, I did not interpret the commercial as being disrespectful, offensive, or sexist in any way. Not once while watching the commercial did I find myself thinking of how shallow and sexist Peloton must be to create a commercial with this theme. I actually found it motivating, because the commercial shows the lady going through an entire year with season changes, using the bike, which is more than I can say for my own Peloton experience. This is a merely a reflection of my busy life, and in no way a poor review of the bike!
Others agree with my position, and say that the idea of Peloton showing its sexist self was completely lacking basis and this fabricated idea was completely blown out of proportion, by a tiny minority of viewers who took it to social media. CNN calls this a faux controversy and explains that while Peloton did suffer some financial impact, that it will be “gained back in no time.” (Smith, Lynn) Further, the old saying, “even bad publicity is good publicity” may well come into play. Anyone who pays attention to social media will certainly have Peloton at the top of their mind, if the subject of exercise equipment is mentioned. Another reason I did not view the commercial as being offensive or sexist from a consumer perspective is, that I do not believe Peloton has ever tried to brand themselves as a “weight-loss” community, but rather a self-care and healthy community. In every class I have joined, the instructor has spent time in the class talking about self-care and how important it is to take time out for yourself each day.
Regardless of your perspective, the Peloton commercial, in large part, united the country, even if for just one moment in time, during a time when our country was becoming more divided than ever. According to an article from AZCentral.com, the commercial could not have come at a better time, citing that we (Americans) all hated the commercial “because we live in divisive times. Yet this, of all things, has united us. And man, do we need it. Finally, something we can all agree on.” The author goes on to say, “We are so far apart on so much. There are big things like, you know, the current state of the world. The impeachment hearings, for instance. If you’re a Trump supporter, you think they’re a trumped-up (pun intended) waste of time. If you’re a Democrat, you think they’re the necessary antidote to a corrupt presidency.” (Goodykoontz, Bill). Although, I did not think it was offensive, I did recognize the comradery on social media. There is something refreshing about seeing an entire group of strangers uniting for one moment in time, even if for what may be considered a trivial issue (if you are bothered by the ad, pass on buying a Peloton, simple as that). Despite the outpouring of support for someone who we met as an upper middle class, dress size two woman, who received a $2500 exercise bike for Christmas and ended thirty seconds later as a grateful upper middle class, dress size two woman who received a $2500 exercise bike for Christmas. However, how about we choose to focus on the positive?
The commercial also found light weeks later, in a commercial for actor Ryan Reynolds’s company, Aviator American Gin. The commercial, titled “The Gift That Doesn’t Give Back” acts as a sequel to the original Peloton commercial. The commercial shows the other side of the argument, very similar to my mother’s reaction to the “90’s Oreck vacuum Christmas,” previously referenced. The commercial shows the “wife” actress bellied up to a bar with two girlfriends drinking gin martinis, visibly depressed, with her girlfriends reassuring her she is safe and comforting her in an overdone satirical manner. At the end of the piece, one of the girlfriends says, “you look great, by the way,” in an effort to share some love in Peloton’s direction, and seemingly poking fun at the widespread misinterpretation of the Peloton commercial.
I think, in the end, there was absolutely nothing sexist or offensive about the commercial. I believe in many cases, particularly as it relates to social media, we find ourselves having “much ado about nothing.” Maybe it is in an effort to feel like a part of a community, through a shared passionate opinion about a familiar topic, or maybe, simply to get others “spun up” about a spin bike!
