Now that the entire world has expressed their utter hatred for the latest Peloton commercial (causing the company’s stock to plunge more than 15%), I’d like to defend the commercial.
A little bit.
In a lot of ways, this Peloton commercial is just like every other Peloton commercial. Place the bike in an enormous, unrealistically minimalist room beside floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking incredible vista and watch a happy, committed person ride. It’s admittedly a ridiculous scenario, but if you were making a commercial for an exercise bike, you’d want to display it in the best possible light. Perhaps there is a middle ground between luxury home with oddly, every changing landscapes and a poorly-lit basement beside the washing machine, but this isn’t the issue that has Americans up in arms.
Critics claim that the advertisement is sexist, promotes harmful relationship dynamics, and implies that women should say thank you to their husbands for asking them to lose weight.
They argue that the advertisement tells the story of a vain, controlling husband that wants his wife to stay thin or even to lose a few pounds despite her already trim physique. Others argued that the ending implies that wives who receive a Peloton as a means to nudge them into losing weight should be thankful and gracious. Some comments on Twitter also jokingly noted that this commercial was nothing more than documenting a 120-pound woman's journey to become a 116-pound woman, or that she was in great shape to begin with.
I think that all of this is nonsense.
Let’s start with the fitness of the wife who is portrayed in the commercial, because this is the most egregious of the claims. Those who argue that the commercial documents a physically fit woman’s journey to shed a couple extra pounds don’t understand the benefits associated with task commitment and daily exercise. They wrongfully assume that someone who appears thin can’t benefit from the multitude of benefits that come with exercising regularly or committing to something important for a long period of time.
Lots of thin people in this world do not exercise. Because of diet, genetics, metabolism, or a combination of all three, they manage to look good despite being relatively inactive. My mother, for example, never weighed over 100 pounds in her life except when she was pregnant with me, but other than walking, she never exercised.
Could exercise have benefited my mother despite being so thin?
Of course
There are many reasons why people exercise, and losing weight (or even maintaining their weight) is only one of them. Exercise reduces your risk of heart disease and some cancers. It improves mental health, It helps to keep your thinking, learning, and judgment skills sharp as you age. It improves muscles and bone strength. It improves sleep. It improves your sex drive. It helps you to live longer.
The list is endless.
And committing to something important and maintaining that commitment over time is also enormously beneficial to human beings. It improves self confidence. Helps to prioritize more appropriately. Overcomes procrastination. Sets a positive example for children.
The list is also endless.
To even assume that the woman in this commercial is trying to lose weight is ridiculous.
And by the way, would critics have preferred that the wife in this commercial be overweight? How would that have played with the American public? Overweight wife is given a Peloton for Christmas from her husband? Or any overweight spouse is given a Peloton by his or her spouse?
Peloton was damned either way. In the critics’ minds, the spouse in question was either going to be too thin to need a Peloton or too overweight to receive one as a gift without it being insulting.
The assumption that the husband in this commercial is vain, controlling, or sexist is also nonsense. Sure, it’s possible that the wife portrayed in this commercial is living in a secretly abusive relationship, but also, isn’t it possible that he gave her the Peloton because he loved her? Because he knew that she would love it?
Does this woman even look like she’s in an abusive relationship? Is there anything in this commercial absent the gift of Peloton to imply that this is the case?
She looks pretty happy to me.
If a Peloton showed up under my tree on Christmas morning, I would be thrilled. I’d wonder where the hell to put it, but I’d still be thrilled. I’d love the gift of Peloton for Christmas.
Would I assume that Elysha is telling me to lose weight or else?
No, I’d assume that she loves me. She knows me. She knows that I go to the gym every day possible to exercise and thought that a Peloton might make my exercise more convenient and appeal to my highly competitive nature.
I’d love one.
I realize that I am a man, so perhaps the dynamics here are different, but am I really expected to believe that never in the history of the Peloton company has a husband given a Peloton to a wife simply because he thought she might like it? Is there really no woman in America who would not be happy to find a Peloton under her Christmas tree this year?
I don’t buy it. Not one bit.
The criticism of this ad reminds me of my college English classes where professors and students would search for purposeful symbolism where there was none. They’d read a poem or a novel and see the color blue make three appearances over the course of 400 pages and look for meaning where there was none.
Sometimes things are just blue. Sometimes Peloton commercials are simply designed to make you want to purchase a product.
And the criticism over the wife creating an Instagram story of her year of exercise as a means of thanking her husband? So stupid. Somehow a sweet act of gratitude - creatively presented - has been turned into some desperate attempt by a wife to please her angry, controlling husband, despite no evidence of this at all.
I gave Elysha a ukulele two years ago. If this Christmas season, her gift to me was an Instagram story of her two year journey learning to play and performing with her ukulele, I’d consider it one of the best gifts I’ve ever received, not because I need her to express gratitude for bringing music and performance and a new commitment into her life, but because heartfelt gratitude is one of the best gifts a person can receive.
Here’s what I suspect:
If you want to see a wife, beleaguered by a controlling husband who wants her to be more physically fit, then you will see that. And it might say something about you, your relationship to your spouse, your relationship to exercise, your own self concept, or the last book you read or movie you watched. Maybe even the last donut you ate.
If you want to see a husband giving his wife a gift that he thinks she’ll enjoy and ultimately does, then you’ll see that instead. Maybe you’ll even give the gift of Peloton.
Or if you want to see some nonsense outrage over people reading way too much about a commercial designed to suggest that Peloton might make a great Christmas gift if if you have an extra $2,500 to spend, then you can be like me and see that.
