From my years of watching the Tour de France I remember the word "Pelaton" being French for "Pack" or "The pack." It referred to the large groups of riders that would gather in a clump in order to cut down on wind resistance. Riding this way meant that it saved energy for the riders and the strategy was that you kept yourself as fit as possible for the moment when you could break away and take the lead. Break away too early and you're too tired to stay ahead of other riders who saved themselves. Break away too late and the leader is too far up the road to catch up. Riding in the pelaton is a double edged sword but so is the company, Pelaton's new ad campaign.
I won't post it here because no doubt you've seen it but a particular ad from Pelaton, the exercise equipment company has gone viral and for all the wrong reasons. From bashing the model herself to bashing the company for body shaming and monetary discrimination pretty much every complaint you can think of has been hurled at the company. But the real question is, are these critiques fair? Well, like the formation the company is named after this ad campaign is both a good and a bad thing.
Obviously, any time something goes viral it's awareness spreads in ways it otherwise couldn't. When that thing is an ad for a product the parent company is basically getting free marketing. Tens of thousands of people who otherwise never would have even heard of this company have suddenly got the named shoved in their face for better or worse. Like it or not this almost always translates into increased sales of that product from people who couldn't care less about the controversy surrounding it. At the same time, however, the company is developing a pretty shitty reputation that can actually deter customers who don't want to have this thing in their home that comes with such negative connotations. If we've learned anything from the Kardashians though, it's that the net result of viral ad campaigns in terms of monetary value is always a plus. Like it or, not Pelaton is making a lot more money now than they otherwise would have. Whether or not that influx of cash remains in the green or at least in the black is anyone's guess but the ad has done it's job.
So am I telling you to just shut the fuck up about it? Not necessarily, because there are ways to combat discriminatory ad campaigns that don't draw attention to the company itself. However, that's not what this blog is about. What I want to address is whether or not the criticism is fair, not whether or not it's effective because ultimately, that is anyone's guess.
So point number one about Pelaton is that their ad campaigns are geared solely for the wealthy. On the surface this doesn't sound so great because why should any product be exclusively for the rich? Take a step back and look at the bigger picture though. The lowest cost of a Pelaton machine is just south of $2,500. Sure they offer financing but what kind of payments do you honestly think they'll accept? When I bought my wife a Techni-sport gaming chair I paid $60 every two weeks and paid it off in two months. At that rate it would take nearly two years to pay off a Pelaton machine and that's not including the subscription services they offer which is the main draw of owning one of these machines. Those can run about $60/month as well and include live classes as well as VoDs. These machines aren't cheap for a reason, the company wants to offer the best services money can buy and those services cost big bucks, bucks that have to come from the consumer. Is this fair? Well considering the crowded market of home exercise equipment it's not like you're stuck with Pelaton or nothing. There's Noridc-track, Bow-flex and any number of other companies many of which offer low cost options that are within the price range of most homes. So what if you can't afford a Pelaton? You can just buy something else. Sure you don't get the kinds of bells and whistles that Pelaton offers but there are other ways to utilize similar services that will be sufficient. Pelaton gears their ad campaign for wealthy customers intentionally because they don't want people who can't afford their products trying to buy them and they also know damn well that you have options. They don't care if you can't afford their products and in the end that's how a free market works.
Okay fine, this thing is fucking expensive but what about the body shaming? In one particular ad a young lady is gifted a Pelaton by her husband and she then spends an entire year vlogging about using it. Naturally at the end of the ad she's all a flutter about how amazing "her journey" has been. The young lady in question is visibly no different in terms of physique from the beginning of the ad to the end. Not only that but the ad seems to play into the stigma of offering a spouse an piece of exercise gear as a sort of back handed compliment. "You're too fat bitch" is ringing in the ears of women everywhere. While it is easy to dismiss this criticism as simply taking the ad out of context there is a valid point to be made. This is exercise gear and as such is typically viewed as something a person who is out of shape and lives an unhealthy lifestyle (i.e. myself) is in need of. If the person in question really wants a Pelaton and you, as a wealthy benefactor be you a spouse or not decide to fulfill that wish then so be it. But to simply drop a set of barbells at the feet of someone who isn't looking to exercise with weights (maybe they prefer yoga or bike riding) or even at all you may as well have just punched them in the gut. The psychological impact of such a gesture can be devastating to the person and this is something we can't just sweep under the rug. Yes, the young lady in the ad screams: "Oh my God, a PELATON!" and yes she vlogs about it but we don't get enough context outside of that to really understand the husband's intentions. What the ad really needs is more set up before the gift showing unequivocally that this is something she really wants, not just something that ended up at her feet and she decided to make the best of a shitty gift. I honestly think if that part of the commercial had been cut off then this commercial would have come and gone like so many millions of others. As for her body not really changing from beginning to end of what is supposed to be a year's worth of use I have to agree that this is just laziness. We've seen Micheal Douglas lose 40 years of age, Cris Evans gain about 200 pounds of muscle and bone and Peter Cushing come back from the grave why can't they digitally add a few pounds or enhance their muscles for one or two scenes of an ad? It would have a much greater impact on the viewer to watch someone who has weight loss or fitness goals achieve them in grand fashion.
One way or the other Pelaton, the company couldn't care less about the controversy their ads have caused. I know this because the Hallmark channel stills plays them every half a fucking hour on the hour and half hour every God damn day and I'm just sick of hearing them. The old adage of "there's no such thing as bad P.R." is being put to the test once again.