Bad Ad, Good Ad

Episode 90 - Bad Ad, Good Ad

You’ve probably seen the ad. Surely you’ve heard about it.

I’m talking about the recent Peloton ad, the one where a woman is gifted a Peloton stationary bike by her husband and looks like she’s under pressure to use it.

For many reasons, it’s not a good ad, if you ask me, and it has received a ton of negative publicity. The ad comes across as sexist, insensitive and out of touch with reality.

In a word, clueless.

The star of this controversial ad, however, Monica Ruiz, reappeared very quickly on screen in an entirely different ad for Aviation American Gin, which was clearly poking fun at the Peloton ad.

This time around, she’s sitting at a bar with her friends, they toast to “new beginnings” and she guzzles her drink. Too funny.

Not only did Aviation American Gin (actor, Ryan Reynolds, apparently has a stake in the company) move fast in rolling out this spot, they newsjacked the Peloton ad debacle and went viral for all the right reasons. Their ad was timely, funny, topical and authentic.

Good for them. Good for Monica Ruiz. Not so good for Peloton.