For Some Reason TV Shows Absolutely LOVE Giving Characters Heart Attacks On Peloton Bikes
In December, Peloton made waves by after a cast member of Sex and The City died on their bike. I don't know enough about the show to discuss that matter, but I do know that if you're in the cast of Sex and the City and you're at a red carpet event, your teeth should not look like this.
Good heavens, whitening strips are $49.99, I highly recommend them. Repulsive. Let's skip down a bunch, get that off our screens.
Ok, we're safe now. So anyway, Sex and the City killed yellow tooth man on a Peloton. And Peloton was cool with it, they rolled with the punches, and had a great reply to it. I would post it but they deleted it because I guess yellow tooth man has some allegations against him. They always do, man. They always do. But they basically spun it into a positive:
In the Peloton ad released Sunday, Mr. Big, played by Chris Noth, is seen cozying up next to a fireplace with Allegra, a fictional Peloton instructor in the show played by a real one, Jess King.
Before the ad ends, Mr. Reynolds quickly adds: “He’s alive.” A Peloton spokeswoman said Monday the ad reinforced how cardiovascular exercise can help people lead long, healthy lives.
“Reaction from our members to the video has also been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, our community is already taking to social media to tell real life stories of how Peloton and cardiovascular exercise has helped with their heart health and overall wellbeing,” the spokeswoman said.
Their ad was met with a ton of praise of how brands should operate (allegations aside) and be cool about things.
So that brings us to last night. Peloton is minding their own business, trying to recover from a very bad post-pandemic year where the stock has fallen 80%, when Billions (spoilers ahead, I suppose. I don't watch Billions so not sure if it's a big deal or not, but spoiler alert just in case) did the same god damn thing!
AV - A Peloton exercise bike has taken down another leading man on television. In the second Peloton-related heart attack in recent months, David Costabile’s character Mike “Wags” Wagner from Showtime series Billions went into cardiac arrest after a go on the machine in the sixth season premiere.
Peloton must be looking around like "what the fuck man???????". They're just trying to make ends meet and dudes are dying on their bikes left and right on the most popular shows in the world.
As it turns out, the guy from last night ended up living, but Peloton is still shaking their damn head, unhappy about it.
Though Wags later recovers from the incident, the name-dropping still does not sit well with Peloton.
“We get why these fictional TV shows would want to include a brand that people love to talk about, but Showtime’s use of Peloton’s Bike+ and reference to a Peloton Instructor was not a brand, product, or instructor placement, and we did not agree for our brand and IP to be used on this show or provide any equipment,” a statement issued by the company reads. “As referenced by the show itself, there are strong benefits of cardio-vascular exercise to help people lead long, happy lives.”
I actually feel bad for Peloton. You have a thousand toxic companies out there doing a thousand things worse, and folks on TV are dying every time they get near a Peloton bike. It's so fucked up. Peloton is like "ride our bikes to be healthier" and TV is like "if you get on one of these your heart will stop". Brutal. And it'd be one thing if they could continue to roll with the punches, but they can't let it become a "thing" where every time a bike is on TV the guy riding it dies. That's just terrible for business. Terrible.
Peloton needs a new COVID lockdown ASAP. Nobody wants COVID-20 more than them. Nobody.