Peloton ad actor gives real-life girlfriend a Peloton bike for Christmas

One of the most talked-about adverts in the run-up to Christmas was the one for indoor cycling brand Peloton, showing a man gifting his wife one of the New York City-based company’s £2,000 exercise bikes to his wife, resulting in what can mildly be described as a backlash on social media, not to mention several parody videos, knocking a whopping $1 billion of the firm’s share value in just one day.

> When ads backfire – What went wrong with THAT Peloton spot?

Criticism of the ad centred on the perception among many people was the message it sent the gift’s recipient, with the woman depicted in the advert already very thin, while much was also made of her appearing less than thrilled with the present, which appeared to take her life over to the extent that she filmed herself using it every day – then the following Christmas gave her husband a video of her dutifully using it throughout the year.

In a case of life imitating art, Sean Hunter, who played the husband in the spot which was pulled after the reaction to it, and who said at the time, “My five seconds of airtime created an array of malicious feedback that is all associated with my face,” has perhaps bravely given his girlfriend, Cassidy Baras … a Peloton bike for Christmas.

In a post on Instagram, he said, “Here's hoping this goes over better the second time ... Merry Christmas to my actual girlfriend (pls don't leave me).”

 

 

 

 

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Here’s hoping this goes over better the second time.... Merry Christmas to my actual girlfriend (pls don’t leave me)

A post shared by Sean Hunter (@pelotonhusband) on Dec 25, 2019 at 4:46pm PST

Hunter – Instagram handle, @pelotonhusband – received a reply to his post from the brand itself, which said, “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!”

That’s probably one Christmas present idea sorted for Baras next year, and let’s just hope Hunter isn’t too disappointed with the video she gives him of her enjoying her peloton bike.

Now, some may view it as a romantic gesture, and it could be that in the fallout from the ad, Baras told Hunter that a Peloton bike is exactly what she wanted (in which case, we hope he got a discount) or it could be an opportunistic publicity stunt on the brand's behalf (in which case, chapeau to their marketing department),

Meanwhile, the exposure she received through the ad doesn’t seem to have done the career of actress Monica Ruiz much harm – TMZ reports that she has since appeared in a spot for Ryan Reynolds’ Aviation Gin, and she’s also snagged a guest role in the long-running US soap, The Bold and The Beautiful.

https://www.tmz.com/2019/12/09/peloton-wife-monica-ruiz-nice-lucky-snl-j...

https://www.tmz.com/2019/12/17/peloton-wife-monica-ruiz-new-role-bold-an...