Pelot-on or Pelot-off?

So unless you’ve been living underneath a media-free rock for the past week, you should be aware of the kerfuffle in a kettle or tempest in a teapot about the holiday Peloton commercial. 
  
The backlash has been pretty unanimous with allegations including “tone deaf”, “dystopian”, “Black-Mirroresque”, â€œhorror movie”, sexism and spousal abuse.
 
Why? Because we’re looking at an already thin woman who has been gifted a bike by her husband because apparently she needs to lose weight. Just look at her in the commercial…she looks terrified, right?

Or as @clueheywood put it:

Look I don’t want to be “The Peloton Ad Guy” anymore but the newest commercial about the vlogging 116 lb woman’s YEARLONG fitness journey to becoming a 112 lb woman who says “I didn’t realize how much this would change me” is just ri-god-damn-diculous. Come on.

This video spoof from Eva Victor (@evaandheriud) has actually been viewed almost as much as the original commercial (roughly 4 million at the time of writing this article.)
 
And it doesn’t stop there, the press or “earned media” has been prolific, from mainstream media to “off-broadway” lists like this one.
 
To add insult to injury or perhaps I should say fuel to the fire, Peloton’s “apology” has been panned:
 
"While we're disappointed in how some have misinterpreted this commercial, we are encouraged by--and grateful for--the outpouring of support we've received from those who understand what we were trying to communicate."
 
Critics, crisis communication professionals and social media elite have offered up their 2c with advice to the tune of:
 
One is to actually apologize: We were surprised by some of the responses to our holiday ad. In retrospect, it’s clear that some people found it sexist and misinterpreted the dynamic between the woman and her husband. We made a poor choice in how we portrayed this dynamic, which was supposed to show an uplifting journey. We apologize for offending people and airing the insensitive ad. In the future, we’ll include a diverse set of women in the group that vets ads here in the hopes of projecting a more positive and inclusive set of messages that are consistent with how Peloton actually feels about its customers.
 
Another is to vigorously defend yourself: Although our ad apparently offended lots of people, it reflects our values and we continue to be proud of it. A woman encourages her husband to buy her a Peloton in her journey to fitness. After hard work, she accomplishes her goals. It makes no difference what size and shape the customer is tous — we want to encourage everyone to take charge of their wellness journey and improve. We’ll continue to do all we can to encourage everyone to take charge of their fitness, and we hope you will join us in that.
 
As an aside, the original video on YouTube has 8.6K Thumbs Ups, 15K Thumbs Downs and comments are turned off.
 
So what do I think? Do you care? I will do you the service of not rehashing all the noise from the Interwebs. Instead, I’ll try and give you some original thoughts.
 
Personally, my wife said she’d love it if I would buy her a Peloton bike for the holidays and she definitely doesn’t need to lose weight. Speaking of which, does the commercial mention anything about weight loss? It doesn’t. 
 
Regardless, this is one big FAT #firstworldproblems debate about nothing.  Peloton is a kick-ass product. I don’t have one. I wish I did. Everyone and I mean everyone who has one loves it carnally. It is a bit of a cult and that’s ok. Maybe that’s why comparisons to the move “Get Out” have been made, but that’s it…
 
Honestly, the only misstep in this commercial is the disconnect between the strategic brief and the creative execution. The clear objective was to introduce Peloton as a gift for the holidays. At $2,245 a pop, it’s one hell of a gift!
 
Looking back now, it’s easy to see an execution where the husband (let’s make HIM overweight) sneaks down in the middle of the night to ride the bike.
 
Ultimately, it comes down to this. On the downside, Peloton saw $942 million in market value wiped out in a single day amid backlash to its controversial holiday ad (PTON) or $1.5bn in 3 days. That puts them back at the same level as…wait for it….November 27 (or thereabouts). In other words, just off their all time high.
 
On the upside, we’re talking about an earned media jackpot. 
 
Remember, this product is great. Keep reminding yourselves that. This product is incredible. People swear by it. Peloton has disrupted the entire gym industry and even the specialists like Soul Cycle, Joyride (less so with CyClub â€“ that’s my sister’s cycling club in London, which is awesome!)
 
The only advice I would give is to everyone BUT Peloton. I’m with Bill Maher on this. We need to get a grip on reality and maintain a degree of perspective. The political correctness and sensitivity right now is in danger of spinning (I made a funny) out of control. 
 
Let’s call this what it is, not the smartest move from the marketing department, but certainly not malicious. 
 
Peloton does not need to advertise. If ever there was an example of a company that embodies the principles of Z.E.R.O. or Flip the Funnel, it’s this one. Embrace that and leave the advertising to the companies that really do need to put lipstick on a pig!

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