Christmas and any holiday season, in general, is associated with eating rich and well. Though an unwanted consequence of the plan but instinctive nevertheless is weight gain. Plans of exercise are left behind as people go back to visit their families who live away from their current residence.
Another tradition of Christmas is gift-giving. Peloton instinctively combines both in a remake of “A Christmas Carol” to deliver a Christmas advertisement early to its consumer base.
Peloton’s 2021 Christmas ad
Peloton, the exercise equipment company; most well-known for their indoor exercise bike has released a new ad for Christmas, this year.
The advertisement borrows the character, Scrooge, from the famous “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens.
Nobody likes a Scrooge on Christmas. As kids sing Christmas carol outside a man’s house to mark the season; in Scrooge fashion, he opens the door only to ruin their joy and happiness over the festive season.
However, unlike Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ novel, he isn’t close-minded at all. Perhaps, he only minds the singing which; to his defence; could have been bad. While Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” notably hated everything related to Christmas and God, this Scrooge is quite acceptant of Christmas traditions; especially the one of gift-giving and acceptance. The gift happens to be a Peloton bike from an unknown sender.
Also, unlike Scrooge in the tale, he is pretty open-minded about changing himself. He spends time fixing his physical appearance over the holidays with the aid of virtual trainers of the bike.
This ad is a good answer to the question: “Can Peloton deliver their product during the holiday season without coming across as insensitive?”
It’s indeed a sly question meant for Peloton since in 2019 Peloton landed in hot water for their Christmas ad.
Peloton’s 2019 Christmas ad
A Christmas present to a wife from a husband got labelled as “insensitive”. Some argued that it was sexist and promoted an unhealthy marriage dynamic since it was seen as a husband urging his wife to get thin. Also, according to the people opposed to the advertisement, it is “a subtle promotion of sexist norms and unhealthy body image for women”.
