Last month, Peloton released a 30-second commercial for their trendy stationary exercise bike, and instead of boosting sales it aroused a flurry of anger from viewers. The video which focuses on a woman receiving a Peloton bike as a gift and documenting her experience using it over the course of a year has led to accusations that the advertisement is sexist, promotes harmful relationship dynamics, and implies that women should say thank you to their husbands for asking them to lose weight.
The video, which is still up on YouTube now, entitled "The Gift That Gives Back", focuses around a thin and healthy-looking woman who receives a peloton stationary exercise bike as a gift from her equally good looking and thin husband. The bulk of the video from here on out is in the style of Sophie videos made by the woman as she talks about her experiences using the bike and how it makes her feel. The video then cuts forward to one year later with the couple sitting on their couch and watching the selfie videos on their TV. The video ends with the wife proclaiming how thankful she was to have received this gift.
What has gotten viewers so angry about the commercial are a number of things. Some have argued that the advertisement tells the story of a vain, controlling husband that wants his wife to stay thin or even to lose a few pounds despite her already trim physique. Others argued that the ending implies that wives who receive a Peloton as a means to nudge them into losing weight should be thankful and gracious. Some comments on Twitter also jokingly noted that this commercial was nothing more than documenting a 120-pound woman's journey to become a 116-pound woman, or that she was in great shape to begin with.
Peloton stocks have been dipping over the last week. After hitting a high of around $35 a share, prices have fallen off and are now hovering around $30 a share at press time. This has led some to believe that the dip is tied to the backlash received by the controversial advertisement. According to TechCrunch, one possible explanation for the dip in price is that more consumers are opting to buy cheaper exercise bikes while only subscribing to Peloton's media offerings.
The Peloton exercise bike is in its purest sense just a typical stationary exercise bike with the added bonus that it includes an attached screen on which fitness instructor videos can be watched while exercising. A similar experience could be found by propping up a mobile phone or tablet onto a much cheaper stationary exercise bike, a realization that perhaps others are already coming to and thus leading to reduced sales. Or, perhaps the fallout from the advertising misstep has simply gotten investors nervous, thus leading to lower stock prices on the markets. Either way, Peloton and other companies that deal in exercise and health products would be wise to learn from this misstep so as not to repeat it again.
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