The recent Peloton ad controversy ...

[wildboar]

deleted

[Ozz]

yeah....I think the copy in the ad was the problem. And that Peloton is a lighting rod for outrage....sort of like electric cars. Some people are just gonna hate for what it represents....maybe makes them feel bad about themselves?

I discussed the ad with a woman I work with (sample of 1, not wealthy or white) and she said she totally identified with the woman in the ad....busy, little spare time, wants to fit in some time to work out, not sure how to do it, feels bad she can't time for herself, etc.....nothing to do with losing weight or such.

[shoota]

Originally Posted by 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.

Because you can't please the outrage mob. Literally everything is wrong. And you can afford to ignore them because they are the loud minority. The rest of us that watched the commercial and immediately didn't give a crap about it didn't go onto social media to make a big stink about it. Also, that parody wasn't funny in the slightest. So, again, I don't get it, but it's been fascinating to watch the social experiment unfold in real time.

[redir]

I would add that often times when it appears that an ad is targeting an upper class demographic they are really also targetting the lower class in the hopes to make them feel upper class.

Pardon me sir do you have any Grey Poupon.

[Blue Jays]

Originally Posted by Blue Jays

"...Peloton does not need to apologize for anything.
Never bend a knee to the crazed rage mob. Ever..."

Originally Posted by DRZRM

"...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?..."

Companies should never bend because the perpetually-offended rage mob will find something else to crybully about.
It is not like these folks will accept the "apology" and immediately get their credit cards out to to purchase a Peloton.

[jlwdm]

I know quite a few people, men and women, who have Peloton bicycles. Some are couples who ride together and some ride on the road also. One couple has the treadmill also. These people really like them and get a lot of great exercise this way. Nothing wrong with that.

I don't get the complaints about the ad.

Jeff

[DRZRM]

Or....maybe wrong things are wrong, and folks who refuse to see problematic patriarchal patterns are really the crazed mob. Let me guess, when people talk about white privilege, women being paid less than men who do the same job, or a minimum wage that allows full time workers to live under the poverty line they are snowflakes and delicate flowers?

This is about the marketing at a company, who they targeted, how they perceive and present their target audience, and the real measurable damage they have done to their company and those who invested in it. It's not about who works out, whether they are thin, or whether they use a Peloton trainer.

No need to respond, I'm all done with this thread, it's exhausting reading ya'll taking offense to people actually identifying offensive things.

Originally Posted by shoota

Because you can't please the outrage mob. Literally everything is wrong. And you can afford to ignore them because they are the loud minority. The rest of us that watched the commercial and immediately didn't give a crap about it didn't go onto social media to make a big stink about it. Also, that parody wasn't funny in the slightest. So, again, I don't get it, but it's been fascinating to watch the social experiment unfold in real time.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by redir

I would add that often times when it appears that an ad is targeting an upper class demographic they are really also targetting the lower class in the hopes to make them feel upper class.

Pardon me sir do you have any Grey Poupon.

You may very well like to think that, I couldn't possibly comment



and to echo your point; having someone with patrician mannerisms to hawk a sh**e car that is a Rover

[FlashUNC]

It's lazy, it's dumb, it's 25 years ago and it picks at the continually festering wound of class divide that's only getting wider in the Western world.

Wellness and health is only for the rich after all.

[Kirk007]

Originally Posted by DRZRM

No need to respond, I'm all done with this thread, it's exhausting reading ya'll taking offense to people actually identifying offensive things.

Well that's one approach - I'm right, your wrong and I'm taking my ball home with me.

Just because you and others may be offended by the Peloton advert doesn't mean the offended are more aware than those who don't have a problem with the add. Its equally if not more likely that there's just a different perspective. Has someone appointed a Czar of political correctness who gets to announce on high what is offensive and what is not? Maybe I missed that memo. Or maybe its that some of us are working so hard on existential crises like climate change that there's simply no energy or bandwidth to be outraged over a company trying to sell its high end product to its target audience.

Your other issues referenced are real and no folks bringing light to them are not snowflakes. I suspect many pushing back on the Peloton add outrage take those issues seriously, I know I do, while still thinking the tempest over the Peloton add is lame.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Drmojo

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

This is flat out hysterical!

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by echappist

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.

I always appreciate your thoughts, Jim.

[azrider]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

whaaaaaa haha!

Quote:
Sometimes I’ll move the Peloton bike into our gallery so I can spend time with my half gay husband while he reads Architectural Digest wearing combat boots

Dammit....................i just spit out my coffee.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

serious question:

i am, by most standards, thin.

if you saw me riding my bicycle - would you simply assume that the reason i was riding it was to become thinner?

A very interesting question with a complex answer. I'll try to be as brief and concise as possible.

If I saw you (Nick) at a gym I would assume you're probably an athlete. Most likely a runner or a cyclist. But the subject and men and weight is not burdened with misogynist history. I had a female client who once told me that going to the gym "is like being in a war." For her (and assumedly other women) the constant "measuring up" was soul sucking. A fruitless and never ending battle.

The fitness industry is a real mess. It peddles false archetypes and snake oil remedies. To Jim's (echappist) point, none of my clients are the archetypal Peleton crowd. I don't find training that type of client (the "I just want to lose five pounds" crowd) very productive on many levels.

But my target audience is different than Peleton's. That, seemingly is their target market. Are they responsible for rectifying a false archetype? I don't think so.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

It's lazy, it's dumb, it's 25 years ago and it picks at the continually festering wound of class divide that's only getting wider in the Western world.

Wellness and health is only for the rich after all.

Is the commercial picking at those scabs or actually buying the bike itself? That's an awfully big burden to lay at the feet of a home exercise equipment company.