That Peloton Ad -- December 9, 2019

Now, back to the first story I posted earlier this morning:

First things first: there are so many story lines here, one does not know where to begin, but because it's such a busy day, I will simply provide the link and come back to this later: Peloton girl revisited.

The two ads currently running that absolutely, positively "bother" me the most are the "Peloton girl" ad and the Bloomberg ad(s). I think there are two Bloomberg ads. For a multi-billionaire with more money than Trump -- much more money than Trump, by the way -- I find it incredible that Bloomberg was able to field only two different ads. And both seem identical. But I digress.

There are so many story lines with the "Peloton girl" ad. Here's a video before I get started.

First and foremost: the reason this ad is disliked so much it seems to be very, very sexist. A husband (live-in boyfriend?) buys a Peloton for his wife (live-in girlfriend?) which suggests to many/most that he finds her a bit on the heavy side and needs to lose some weight. LOL. Not good. So how could a company make such a huge mistake? That's easy. It has to do with how the company "sees itself." The CEO recently said that Peloton is not a fitness company but rather Peloton is in the "streaming video" market. And that makes sense: there's a lot more money to be made in streaming video (think Disney) than fitness (think LA Fitness). And, so, the Peloton folks never saw this as a sexist fitness ad but a tech savvy ad.

Of course, the CEO is disingenuous. Peloton is upping its ad presence right during the Christmas season exactly when fitness centers have historically pushed their product, hoping to get people to act on their New Year's resolutions to become more fit. At the end of the day, Peloton is a "fitness company."

A second story line is the degree to which folks actually watch commercials on YouTube as full videos, and then like/dislike them.

A third story line, of course, is the fact that I was aligned with the majority of those commenting the Peloton video.

A fourth story line: to watch whether Peloton pulls this video. Of course, pundits will tell you it doesn't matter -- the important thing is that people are talking about Peloton. I'm not so sure.

A fifth story line: how a commercial can be a life-changing event for a previously unknown actor/actress.

The sixth and last story line for now: the big, big winner (second only to the actress) is Aviation gin. LOL.

And, finally, the original Peloton girl: