The recent Peloton ad controversy ...

[Hellgate]

I'm outraged that her saddle is set up incorrectly! Peloton should be setting the example for others, pathetic...

[kevinvc]

I read a good twitter thread last night about this that made a lot of sense. Their opinion is that this is really bad copy writing for a number of reasons, one of which is that it's unclear what role the viewer is in the ad. Their point is that the ad creates a sense of unease in the viewer that is difficult to nail down and viewers are trying to figure out why. They are assigning the usual triggers, such as sexism, as a way of trying to articulate it.

I think this argument makes sense. When I watched the commercial, my impression was that it was weird and uninspiring, but not exactly why.

Here's the thread.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by kevinvc

I read a good twitter thread last night about this that made a lot of sense. Their opinion is that this is really bad copy writing for a number of reasons, one of which is that it's unclear what role the viewer is in the ad. Their point is that the ad creates a sense of unease in the viewer that is difficult to nail down and viewers are trying to figure out why. They are assigning the usual triggers, such as sexism, as a way of trying to articulate it.

I think this argument makes sense. When I watched the commercial, my impression was that it was weird and uninspiring, but not exactly why.

Here's the thread.

i think this is spot on!

also, the nike commercial in there is good!

[Blue Jays]

Originally Posted by zap

"...Just wait for the Peloton ad featuring a lady driving up in her Mercedes AMG wagon..."

That she drove across the country with her friends just to return to their Peloton exercise bicycles.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by zap

Just wait for the Peleton ad featuring a lady driving up in her Mercedes AMG wagon..................

in the snow, heading up to her secluded chalet in Vail, CO. She, being the non-conformist, brought her Peloton stationary trainer to complement/supplement the skiing

[Burnette]

I've been fit for most of my adult life and work out and ride a lot. The gyms I have frequented over the years are patronized by fit people too, maintaining what you have or to stay where you're at requires activity for aome.

Thin people can benefit from cardio workouts as well as strength training. You don't have be fat to benefit from excercise. Surely some of us have at some point been off the bike awhile and gained maybe just a few pounds but lost quite a bit of aerobic capacity. You get winded easier and experience a loss of energy. Staying active is good for the body even if you're not obese.

There's thin people who need the workout, driving a truck or working in an office, you sit all day. Running, biking, walking and swimming, getting the heart rate up and exercising the heart and lungs is good for all.

IMO we currently live in a professionally offended culture now. Recently an over weight person started running and put it on social media. Many responded positively, only to get berated by the person who put it out there. How dare they judge them and and who needs your well wishes.

You can't win in this environment. You could post that puppies are cute and start a war. Which breed is best, animals should be free, cats are the meow and there's a dog hater in the back.

[shoota]

Originally Posted by kevinvc

I read a good twitter thread last night about this that made a lot of sense. Their opinion is that this is really bad copy writing for a number of reasons, one of which is that it's unclear what role the viewer is in the ad. Their point is that the ad creates a sense of unease in the viewer that is difficult to nail down and viewers are trying to figure out why. They are assigning the usual triggers, such as sexism, as a way of trying to articulate it.

I think this argument makes sense. When I watched the commercial, my impression was that it was weird and uninspiring, but not exactly why.

Here's the thread.

That makes a ton of sense.

[Brian Smith]

Originally Posted by Drmojo

what is half gay
slur?!!?!
now that is more offensive than housewives exercising

The twitter post was meant to be an insensitive jest, and was multiply character-limited.
Posting here has fewer limits, and I'm not sure if you're just trolling, but the "housewives exercising" bit can go both ways, so to speak.


Does anyone know if the Peloton bike is ANT+ FE-C capable? Also, I'm in the market for a used Peloton, ideally in the west side of central Florida, in case anyone is aware of one on offer or is holding...

[texbike]

If Peleton had been smart, they should have done an ad with Baby Yoda riding the bike. How could anyone be offended by that?

Texbike

[Kirk007]

Perhaps everyone online getting there chamois in a bunch over this advert should try more exercise and less screen time, maybe then they would understand what the woman is trying to convey (even if inarticulately).

ATMO those who are so upset about this ad have "woke" on the wrong side of the bed. There are plenty of serious issues to be upset about; this Peloton add ain't one of them.

[Lewis Moon]

Originally Posted by dbnm

The only people I know who own a Peloton bike just happen to be wealthy white women.

Like it or not, that's the new American business model: Target sales to the wealthy. That's where the money is, and those are the folks willing to pay a premium markup for prestige.

[DRZRM]

I love that folks are trying to write backstory (maybe she asked for a Peloton) to justify a commercial. Also that you are Whatabouting to make a comparison of equality between a company trying to increase its sales through a commercial and a comedian's use of "half gay" to critique that commercial. They can't be held to the same standard.

If you are a publicly traded company (or privately held for that matter) and your commercial pisses people off so much that you need to re-edit out the end of the commercial and your company loses more than 10% of its value, they are down over a billion dollars after raking in increased sales over the Black Friday weekend, than you have real issues.

Why exactly should you "Never bend a knee to the crazed rage mob. Ever"? How do you afford to ignore that mob, in capitalism or in democracy?

There is some NSFW f-bombs in it, but this was a very funny response/parody, now viewed almost 4 million times. Sometimes a backlash is well deserved.

https://twitter.com/evaandheriud/sta...10153549848580

Edit: And kevinvc, thanks for the link, that was a spot on analysis.

[redir]

Yes the bit about copywriting is spot on. I never saw that Mary Poppins thing too hahahahha that's fantastic.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

This came across one of my feeds recently ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbc...mp/ncna1096106

Evidently, the new Peleton ad has been accused of being sexist, heteronormative, and classist. As a personal trainer, the idea of an already thin woman striving to become even thinner is really problematic. And it certainly would seem to enforce gender archetypes. Not sold on the "classist" critique.

If Peleton has determined that the a majority of their audience identifies as affluent suburban women, how do you target them effectively?

Interesting to note that Peleton offered no apology.

There are two points raised by your post: the first is whether it is offensive, and the second is concerned with optimal targeting strategy.

For the former, it is not any more offensive than the ad copies they put out previously. The apparent assumption of many is that the sole reason someone lithe and limber hops on the stationary trainer is to get more lithe and limber, but as many of us here know, after a certain point, it's just all maintenance. As for heteronormative, this is its largest target audience; aka, playing it safe and obtaining the most audience reach. I'm also not sure how classicism comes in, as that usually requires interaction between people of different social classes. This is an ad centered on two (seemingly well-to-do) people, and there is no more classicism than what is generally exhibited by most ads targeting the upper middle class.

Your latter point is a bit different, as it is concerned with consumer psychology. Given your clientele and success working with said clientele, you probably know better than anybody else here how this demographic should be targeted when it comes to fitness and exercise. Also, how dare you leave out the affluent urban dwellers in their $1M downtown flats?

Jest aside, the targeted demographic is, by and large, one that is upwardly mobile and buys into the ideas of meritocracy and constant improvements in many aspects of life, never mind that the former isn't always operative, and the latter isn't possible after certain gains have been made. But ad copies aren't there to appeal to logic and reason, they are there to stoke the reptilian brain and stroke the ego of the target audience. Here (by here, i'm referring to all Peloton ads and the like), the message seeks to confirm the steps and dedication the target audience has taken to achieve its present standing (via the general poshness of the setting of the various ads, but without anything that immediately screams conspicuous consumption) and to remind the target audience of the potential self-actualization one may attain with the purchase (maintenance of that lithe and limber physique if one is already there, or as a goal that is worth the sweat and dedication for those who are not). It is essentially intimating: buy this, and you, too, can have this fabulous, Instagram-worthy lifestyle that you deserve. To some of us, it's nothing more than a stupid Jedi mind trick, but prevalence of such ads suggests that it does work.

A while back, I wrote, to the consternation of many, that this is all just a modern take of that cliché (originally coined by a vain Nazi sympathizer) that [one] can never be too rich or too thin. While the execution of this particular ad spot may have been off, that its general message doesn't stray too far from the normal script for items intended for the consumption of the upper middle class should say all there is to say about effective targeting.

I should also note that Peloton's ads are quite different from that from Zwift. As I have access to Eurosport, I see quite a few ads for Zwift. Zwift's ads are much more focused on the actual product (rather than the ambience) and is best described as a bit quirky. It shows different cyclists pedaling in what is best described as a green-room style interior, with a narrator shouting at the cyclists to chase various in-game characters, including the avatar of G(eraint Thomas), who gives the audience a wink. Corny and quirky.

[Bostic]

My wife bought a cheap $200 exercise bike and uses an old iPad with the Peloton app. So while I'm on my Kurt Kinetic struggling up the 15% grade at Radio tower or Alpe du Zwift in my 50x11 I hear the instructor's voice from the iPad yelling.

"I JUST NEED YOU TO GIVE ME 10 SECONDS. FORGET ABOUT CADENCE!"

There is no chance that instructor is going at max effort because they wouldn't be able to talk, much yet yell at you.

I've seen that commercial several times, but I guess it didn't register anything either postive nor negative with me.