Refusing to let the naysayers get them down, the statement continues: “While we’re disappointed in how some have misinterpreted this commercial, we are encouraged by—and grateful for—the outpouring of support we’ve received from those who understand what we were trying to communicate.”
As evidence of this “outpouring of support,” the company provided CNN with “three emails from people who said they supported the ad.” These no-doubt real people include “a man who said he and his wife loved the commercial … and ‘if we could afford one would absolutely buy one ourselves.’” This self-loathing emailer, who wholeheartedly supports a company making products too expensive for him to buy, added that “There’s nothing wrong with getting your spouse what they want for Christmas” and that “more people would do the same if they could afford to.” Peloton also forwarded along a message written by a woman who saw the ad and wanted to let the company know that its bike “became her sister-in-law’s ‘saving grace’ after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and couldn’t work out at a gym.”
Considering how many sickos out there eagerly cheer corporations, these could be legitimate messages. And yet, somehow the statement’s justifications don’t quite outweigh the more striking images of a woman staring into her cellphone in rapt terror that appear throughout the commercial. Whatever we think, though, perhaps filming our reaction to an entire year of these statements, made first thing in the morning or right when we come home, will gradually reveal the truth and convince us of the company’s marketing wisdom. Given enough time and PR statements and maybe we, too, will all end up smiling warily up at a Peloton executive as he watches our journey toward The Truth on Christmas morning, his approving, authoritative grin brightening us in ways too complex to ever describe.
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