Viral video queen Eva Victor has created a hilarious parody of Peloton’s much mocked ad which shows a woman receiving one of the company’s bikes for Christmas.
In the parody, as in the real commercial, a woman receives a Peloton bike as a gift from her husband but after a year of using the bike, unlike in the real ad, she files for divorce.
You can watch the parody by Victor, a comedian and writer, below:
Be aware that there is some NSFW language if you are watching the video in public. Some of the Twitter posts shared below also include some harsh language.
when my husband gets me a Peleton for Christmas …….. pic.twitter.com/Z2d3ewMhPu
— Eva Victor (@evaandheriud) December 2, 2019
To put the parody in context here is the original advertisement, which has prompted much hilarity online:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pShKu2icEYw
The Peloton bike commercial promotes the stationary bike as the perfect holiday season gift for your significant other. The ad, titled “The Gift That Gives Back,” shows a lean young woman walking downstairs on Christmas morning with her daughter. She covers her eyes in anticipation of the surprise Christmas gift that her husband has for her.
When she removes her palm from her face and opens her eyes, she gasps in disbelief and astonishment, but we can’t be certain whether her astonishment is of joy, fear, or horror about her husband’s choice of a Christmas gift.
“A Peloton!” she exclaims.
When it is time for her first ride on her brand new Peloton bike, she sighs nervously. Her face looks tense as she talks to her phone camera although many viewers would guess that the image of a woman looking tense and nervous after receiving a Peloton bike for Christmas was not what the creators of the ad intended.
“Six a.m, yay,” she says dejectedly when she wakes up at 6 a.m. She appears to dread having to get out of bed to confront her stationary bike.
When she says after the workout “that it was totally worth it,” her stare looks icy and tormented rather than joyful.
The video fast forwards to a year later and she says in a video addressed to her husband that she did not realize a year ago “how much this [the stationary bike] would change me. Thank you.”
She looks at her husband sitting beside her and the look of gratitude she contrives betrays ambivalence about what appears the gift of a Trojan horse that held her hostage over the year.
A copy of the ad uploaded to Twitter by user Samuel Moen on December 2 left many Twitter users confused about the woman’s body language and demeanor.
Sorry to shake things up but I'm excited to announce I'm throwing my hat in the ring and joining the presidential race and running on the single issue platform to jail everyone involved in the pitching, scripting, acting, shooting, and approval of the Peloton ad.
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) December 2, 2019
Many Twitter users wondered why she looked tense and nervous.
I don't understand why she is so frightened the whole time. Does the Peltron transform into a killbot or something after 365 days if you don't loose a certain amount of weight?
— Always David Hahn™ (@David_Hahn) December 2, 2019
I am a bit happy in a way that this commercial bothers so many others just like it bothers me.
— WI Libertarian (@WI_Libertarian) December 2, 2019
She is nervous about her financial situation because her husband thought it was a cool idea to buy a $2,300 exercise bike.
— Quarantine Wolf (@Rodel_the_Great) December 2, 2019
Others commented about the woman’s video documentation of her activities and making her husband watch the video.
You video'd yourself talking about peloton-ing before peloton-ing, during your peloton-ing, & more of yourself talking about your peloton-ing after you pelotoned, compiled it all into a long video about yourself & your peloton & forced your spouse to watch your peloton-ing video?
— From the Land of Sky Blue Waters ?? (@HammsLager) December 2, 2019
I cannot imagine anything worse than having an influencer wife that makes me watch all her videos.
— Central Park Party Planning Committee (@space_man_z) December 1, 2019
Although the woman says she didn’t realize how much the Peloton would change her, Twitter users pointed out that she was already very lean and thin-looking even before she got the Peloton bike gift. She didn’t appear to have changed a bit after a year of working out on the bike.
Nothing says “maybe you should lose a few pounds” like gifting your already rail thin life partner a Peloton pic.twitter.com/E2M9gFdD5A
— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) December 2, 2019
Look I don’t want to be “The Peloton Ad Guy” anymore but the newest commercial about the vlogging 116 lb woman’s YEARLONG fitness journey to becoming a 112 lb woman who says “I didn’t realize how much this would change me” is just ri-god-damn-diculous. Come on.
— Clue Heywood (@ClueHeywood) November 25, 2019
Cearly the husband is expecting 2% total body fat after a year. She's not sure she can get there, and his icy stares are just too much.
— Barrett: A killer pandemic is here-DEMOCRATS ? (@barrettwiedemen) December 2, 2019
Many viewers concluded that the ad failed in its attempt to portray the Peloton bike as the perfect holiday gift because the recipient didn’t look convincingly happy about the bike gift.