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Peloton faces backlash over 'sexist, dystopian' exercise bike advert Peloton faces backlash over 'sexist, dystopian' exercise bike advert
(about 7 hours later)
In ad man buys his partner an exercise bike for Christmas and she vlogs her grateful thanks In ad man buys his partner exercise bike for Christmas and she vlogs her grateful thanks
The exercise bike company Peloton has been widely criticised for a Christmas advert described as “sexist” and “dystopian” by social media users. A Christmas advert from the exercise bike company Peloton has gone viral for all the wrong reasons after it was widely criticised on social media for being sexist and “dystopian”.
In the advert, a woman is seen receiving the gift of an exercise bike from her partner. There follows a series of vlog-style clips of her filming herself on the bike. In the course of it, she says: “Five days in a row, are you surprised? I am!” and: “A year ago I didn’t realise how much this would change me.” The backlash against the business – which sells £2,000 bikes equipped with screens for virtual spin classes and has an army of celebrity fans including David Beckham and Hugh Jackman – reached such a pitch that nearly $1bn was wiped off its value on Tuesday as its shares fell 9%.
It has been compared to the dystopian television series Black Mirror, not least because the woman’s grateful thank you to her partner at the end is delivered via the medium of her showing him the vlog clips, on what appears to be following year’s Christmas morning. The advert, which has been viewed almost 2m times on YouTube, shows a woman receiving an exercise bike from her partner on Christmas morning. The gift inspires her to record a video diary of her exercise sessions, in which she proudly says: “A year ago I didn’t realise how much this would change me.”
Others have suggested that at times it resembles a hostage video. The 30-second commercial – titled “The Gift that Gives Back” – was first released in mid-November, but this week criticism gathered pace online, even inspiring a series of spoof remakes.
Titled “the gift that gives back”, the promo clip was first published in early November, but the whirl of criticism only gathered pace online in the last couple of days, with the effect that the company’s share price dropped by 9%. Critics called the advert “offensive” and “dumb”, pointing out that the woman in the advert was already slim at the start, and that the implication that her partner thought she needed to get fitter and lose weight was patronising and damaging.
Critics have pointed out that the woman in the advert is already slim at the start, and that the implication that her partner thinks she needs to get fitter and lose weight is patronising and damaging. Ash Bendelow, the managing director of the UK creative agency Brave, described the advert as “cringe, old-fashioned and tone deaf”. He added: “It reminds us of the ‘seven tips for keeping your man’ notions from the 1950s, rather than where society is today in 2019.”
On YouTube the video has garnered nearly 2m views to date, but is attracting five “thumbs down” ratings for every “thumbs up” it gets. Peloton has disabled comments on the YouTube post. The advert has even been compared to Charlie Brooker’s dystopian television series Black Mirror, not least because the woman’s grateful thank you to her partner at the end is delivered when she shows him the vlog clips, on what appears to be Christmas the following year.
Others suggested that at times it resembles a hostage video.
On YouTube the video is still gaining thousands of views every hour, but was attracting five “thumbs down” ratings for each “thumbs up”. Peloton turned off comments on the YouTube post.
Other social media responses have been more graphic.Other social media responses have been more graphic.
The company sells fitness equipment equipped with touchscreens. Fitness classes are streamed to the user so that they can take part in group exercise without having to leave home. Peloton, which also sells treadmills, aims to become the “Netflix of fitness”. “On the most basic level, Peloton sells happiness,” the company said this year.
New rules came into force in the UK in January stipulating that ads “must not include gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence”. In August Philadelphia cream cheese and Volkswagen became the first brands to have adverts banned under the new guidance. The Philadelphia campaign featured new fathers acting ineptly while looking after their children, while the VW advert featured a woman sitting next to a pram. It styles itself not as a mere provider of exercise bikes but as a company that has “the opportunity to create one of the most innovative global technology platforms of our time”.
Peloton has been approached for comment. Its flagship product is a £2,000 stationary bike with touchscreen. Users can stream or download fitness classes for a monthly fee – £39 a month in the UK – which allows them to interact with instructors or other members, without having to leave home. They can even digitally “high five” other riders.
The New York-based company was founded in 2012 by John Foley, a former executive at the book chain Barnes & Noble. When the company floated on the US stock market in September it was valued at $8bn, even though it was loss-making.
It launched in the UK last year and has since opened nine showrooms where potential customers can try out the equipment. Peloton had sold 577,000 of its hi-tech bikes and treadmills by the end of June this year, but believes it can go on to sell 14m in the US, UK, Germany and Canada.
In the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) introduced new rules in January under which adverts “must not include gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence”.
In August Philadelphia cream cheese and Volkswagen became the first brands to have adverts banned under the guidance after complaints from the public that they perpetuated harmful stereotypes. The campaign for Philadelphia featured new fathers acting ineptly while looking after their children, while the VW advert for its electric e-Golf vehicle showed a woman sitting on a bench next to a pram.
While the Peloton advert has prompted outrage on social media, Geraint Lloyd-Taylor, a partner at the law firm Lewis Silkin, said it did not breach the ASA rules. However, he added: “The ad doesn’t seem to advance the cause of gender equality.”
Peloton refused to comment on the backlash. But Bendelow said the reaction seemed excessive, and it may still boost sales: “The outrage is perhaps a little disproportionate and only time will tell whether there will be many Pelotons underneath the Christmas tree.”
The ASA told the Guardian it had so far received just one official objection to the advert. But the complainant did not take issue with the advert’s apparently sexist tone: their problem was that the woman featured appeared to be cycling faster than humanly possible.