After Peloton dropped their “Gift That Keeps Giving” ad last month, almost the entire Internet agreed it was ill-conceived.
Some joked about a super fit model-actress going on a “fitness journey” with her exercise bike, some likened the faux videos she made of her using the bike to hostage videos — especially when it’s made clear he is watching them with her later. Others just questioned the idea of buying your spouse exercise equipment as a gift at all, given the potentially judgmental implications.
But one man has been fighting back against those hot takes. Actor Sean Hunter, who played the husband in the ads, went on a brief interview tour in which he claimed his image was “being associated with sexism, with the patriarchy, with abuse” — even though, frankly, no one was talking about him at all.
Unlike Monica Ruiz, his “Peloton Wife” who went on to star in a hilarious Aviation Gin commercial poking fun at the controversy, Sean has been stalwartly defending the original ad against the “negative narrative” surrounding it online.
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Now he’s gone one step further. He’s trying to prove the whole thing isn’t sexist by doing it in real life!
Yep, he bought his real-life girlfriend a Peloton stationary bike for Christmas and proudly posted about it on Instagram!
Did we mention his IG handle is “Peloton Husband”? He really is all in on this.
He captioned the pic:
“Here’s hoping this goes over better the second time…. Merry Christmas to my actual girlfriend (pls don’t leave me)🎄🚲”
OK, that’s actually pretty funny with the parenthetical. But seriously, what is he thinking??
After being told by thousands of women that they would find it offensive to be given an exercise bike by their significant other for Christmas, he basically doubled down and said, YOU’RE WRONG??
Or…
Just hear us out here. Maybe THIS is another ad??
Perhaps his vocal defense of the company has inspired Peloton to try to spin this situation harder than the caged wheels on their machines. Maybe they’re using the fact their ad went viral to stay in the headlines. After all, if they can keep their product visible in cheap social media posts, that’s a lot of free publicity.
Speaking of free… it would make perfect sense to us if they actually gifted their biggest defender with the $2200 bike as a Christmas bonus! And the company’s official IG account commented on the post:
“Looks like a successful Christmas gift to us! We hope you love it, and we’re so glad you’re a part of the Peloton family!”
Hmm…
Also, to get into real tin foil hat territory here… there are no other photos of this woman on his entire Instagram feed. The whole thing is modeling shots and TV appearances. What if she’s just another actress?!
What do YOU think, Perezcious spin doctors? Is Peloton still paying Sean to keep their name in the headlines? Or is he making a severely wrongheaded play to help his image??
[Image via Peloton/YouTube/Sean Hunter/Instagram.]
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