Life imitating art? Or life imitating the interpretation of commercialism we guess?
By now everyone has seen that Peleton ad. You know, the one where a woman gets surprised with an exercise bike for Christmas and proceeds to chart her fitness journey (despite being very lean and fit from the start) in a series of what look like hostage videos.
Video: SNL Made Fun Of The Peleton Ad, Too
The audience naturally assumes the vids are for social media, but instead, they end up being viewed by the couple themselves on the couch. Despite positive intentions, the execution makes the commercial come across like a peek into a disturbingly controlling relationship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pShKu2icEYw
The Internet had a good laugh about the whole thing last week, but one person who wasn’t laughing? Sean Hunter, the actor who plays the husband in the viral ad.
He told GMA on Friday:
“My image is being associated with sexism, with the patriarchy, with abuse, for example. That’s not who I am.”
He even told Psychology Today he was worried it would affect his teaching career:
“I pride myself on being a great teacher and developing actor, and I can only hope that this affects neither. I’m grappling with the negative opinions. The aftermath of the commercial has left me with more questions than answers, and this is only half the story. I reflect on what my co-actor must be dealing with, as she’s the other 25 seconds of the story.”
The other 25 seconds? Guy, she’s the WHOLE commercial!
We’re going to be frank with Sean here and say we honestly didn’t even remember whether you see the husband in the ad before he started complaining about the backlash. Literally everything we saw was about the poor woman. And NO ONE was blaming the poor actors for the inadvertently creepy edit.
But in yet another interview about it, this time with People on Monday, he made the story about himself again, this time saying about the reaction to the video:
“It’s just a narrative I don’t see. Maybe she asked for the Peloton for Christmas? Also, if she didn’t like it we could have returned it! It just seems like a negative narrative that some people are clinging on to.”
We guess it’s all fine and good for him to express his opinion on the ad, which apparently a lot of people also liked — he’s hardly alone in not seeing the problem. (Though we’d also point out it’s not the smartest move to throw yourself in front of that backlash bus when no one even knew who you were.)
However, in Monday’s interview, he also talks about how the ad is affecting his co-star, the Peleton Girl herself, Monica Ruiz! He says:
“Monica and I have chatted on the phone a few times. She’s doing well but is overwhelmed just like myself.”
Is she really?
“She’s not feeling as outspoken as me, whereas I’m happy to share my story. I think it’s important to discuss these issues and address the reasons why people feel this way.”
Huh. She certainly doesn’t seem like she’s dealing with any negativity.
In fact, a TMZ cameraman happened to see Monica walking her dog and asked her about just that! On whether she was overwhelmed by the backlash? She says incredulously:
“Oh come on!”
She adds:
“People have been so nice to me, I’m feeling really, really lucky.”
Yeah, Sean… It looks like your not-wife is doing fine!
In fact, she already got her next job! If you haven’t seen, Ryan Reynolds hired her to jokingly reprise Twitter‘s idea of her character in a hilarious ad for his Aviation Gin, in which she and a couple of girlfriends go out drinking to celebrate the fact she’s left him.
Ha! See, that’s what it looks like when you have a sense of humor about yourself instead of getting all defensive.
Now maybe next time don’t speak for your co-star like some kind of… oh, let’s say… a controlling spouse who would demand video evidence of her mandatory exercise regimen?
What do YOU think of the Peleton backlash — and the actors’ very different responses to it??
[Image via Peleton/YouTube.]
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