Peloton/vacinityreynolds/InstagramLast time we saw the Peloton woman, she was gazing happily at her husband after he’d gifted her an exercise bike for Christmas. Yeah, I know.
Fast forward a couple of months down the line and she’s still gazing, but this time unhappily into the distance as her friends try to cheer her up with vats of gin.
That gin being Ryan Reynolds’ very own Aviation Gin, with the Deadpool star posting a video of the Peloton woman to his social media earlier today.
You can watch the video in its entirety below:
This time, rather than embarking on a year-long fitness journey which would see her creating a video diary of her achievements, Peloton wife was sitting in a bar with her two friends.
Giving each other concerned looks over her head, her two friends attempt to cheer her up with alcohol – presumably because her husband saw fit to (not so) subtly pressure her into working out and therefore subliminally telling her to lose weight.
Her bike – and husband – were nowhere to be seen in Reynolds’ commercial for Aviation Gin, which poked fun at the recent controversy surrounding the original Peloton advert.
After nearly 20 seconds of awkward silence, Peloton wife breaks the ice by stating: ‘This gin is really smooth,’ after which one of her friends offers her another one before the third states: ‘You’re safe here.’
They then toast to ‘new beginnings’ before Peloton wife downs the entire glass, and takes the second offered to her. ‘You look great, by the way,’ her friend tells her.
The advert is a reference to the original one, which came under fire recently for being ‘sexist’ and ‘classist’, with many comparing it to the dystopian television series Black Mirror.
It wasn’t lost on anybody that this wasn’t a Christmas advert many could relate to; a Peloton bike costs $2,245, with membership for the company’s signature interactive classes – which the woman in the advert was taking – costing $39 a month.
Critics also pointed out that the woman in the advert is already slim at the start, and the implication that her partner thinks she needs to get fitter and lose weight is both patronising and damaging.
The advert was so poorly received that shares of Peloton fell more than 9% on Tuesday, December 3, erasing nearly $942 million from the company’s market value in a single day – bringing its market cap to approximately $9.4 billion.
Maybe they should’ve taken Reynolds’ lead and just focused on her getting pissed with her mates instead? It seems to have gone down better.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).