Peloton, a high-end spin bike company, has some interesting commercials this holiday season. So interesting that major news channels are weighing in and Peloton’s share price is feeling it.
In one commercial, a woman was gifted a Peloton by her husband. She vlogs her year long journey with her Peloton, which includes rise and shine 6am workouts and her ‘come hell or high water’ determination to ride 5 days in a row.
In another, a few men and women are riding their Peloton right after Santa paid his visit on Christmas morning, while their families are nestled in their beds. Peloton claims “our kind of joy feels different”.
Twitter is blowing up. Youtube parodies are getting massive views. Daytime talk shows are having a field day with this.
I’ll toss my own two cents in, as a transformational coach who guides women to create freedom around food and trust their own bodies. And as someone who has owned her own spin bike for over 15 years. I have a few of my old “Spinerval” workouts memorized when they played in the DVD player so often. I was doing my own version of Peloton back in the day.
Peloton is doing what all companies do: market their products so they can increase sales. I’m suspecting that Peloton is targeting the fitness freak (and I say this with love as I have fitness freak running through my blood). Fitness freaks don’t need to be coaxed to go to the gym. We happily set our alarm for 4:30am to get to an early morning workout class. When training for a marathon, we know that our running shoes don’t recognize holidays as a day off.
There is a very important unspoken undercurrent to Peloton’s ads that’s extremely impactful. Peloton is showing us a persona, likely their ideal customer. Someone who can afford their $2,000 plus price tag, who have supportive families that don’t mind them working out at any hour of the day or night, spend their days in a corporate office, and live in nice homes in very comfortable suburban neighborhoods.
Peloton riders appear healthy, committed, disciplined, and focused. Each with a big smile on their face. We see successful, attractive, and happy.
There is also a common denominator with each rider. They are thin.
Before you say, “Of course. They have a Peloton! They are working at it. They deserve to be thin. What’s wrong with that?”
Consider what Peloton is really selling us. It’s not a workout bike. It’s a way to get fit. It’s convenience. It’s variety and intensity. They are also selling us financial comfort, loving families and happiness. Based on what we see in Peloton commercials, this comes with thinness.
This is diet culture and its EVERYWHERE. It’s like a gas we can’t see, smell or taste. It often goes undetected.
Christy Harrison describes diet culture as “a system of beliefs that… worships thinness..., promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status..., and demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others....”. See her blog post for more.
For years, I didn’t even know that diet culture was a thing. What I did know was that I needed to have a smaller body. Which meant I needed to lose weight. Being thin and my happiness was both dependent and interdependent. Meaning, I thought I’d be happier if I was thinner AND I couldn’t truly be happy and content if I wasn’t as thin as I could be. In my mind, happiness = thinness.
I lived with this belief for a long time without realizing that a cultural mechanism instilled it into my being. I never questioned the belief that thin people are successful, happier and more attractive until I learned about diet culture.
Have you been able to recognize diet culture for yourself?
When I did recognize that it was “them, not me”, I slowly started to break up with diet culture. I wish I could say that it was abrupt and immediate. It wasn’t. It took me a while to recognize all of the deception. I held onto a false hope that diets could still work for me. I held on to a small amount of naivete that wanted to believe in the good intentions of companies over the profits they wanted to make.
Sadly, Peloton is in very good company when it sends us the message that thinness is superior. Billions of dollars are being made by companies like them every year that send a similar message.
If you are hearing about diet culture for the first time, I invite you to continue to watch your social feed, notice TV ads, and listen to conversations with a new perspective. The messages are subtle and sneaky.
You have to become aware of a belief before you can change it. When you realize that you’ve been holding your own assumptions around how we value ourselves based on the size of our body, it’s time to question those beliefs.
Is that belief true?
And, when you believe it, what impact does it have on how you feel, the choices you make and how you see the world?
Peloton can go ahead and market it’s a$$ off by slinking in during half time when our favorite football team is playing. You may also have a Peloton or something like it and, like me, love to get your fitness fix in on the daily.
Even so, we need to recognize that our happiness and success in life has nothing to do with the size of our body.
Thank you Peloton, for this reminder!