Almost $1.5bn (£1.1bn) has been wiped off the value of the exercise bike firm Peloton after a backlash against a Christmas advert widely derided as “sexist and dystopian”.
The advert, which has been viewed almost 2m times on YouTube, shows a woman receiving an exercise bike from her partner on Christmas morning. The gift inspires her to record a video diary of her exercise sessions, in which she proudly says: “A year ago I didn’t realise how much this would change me.”
The 30-second advert – titled “The gift that gives back” – was first released in mid-November, but this week a storm of criticism gathered pace online, and even inspired a series of spoof video remakes.
Critics called it “offensive” and “dumb”, pointing out that the woman was already slim at the start and the implication that her partner thinks she needs to get fitter and lose weight was patronising and damaging.
The backlash against the business – which sells £2,000 bikes equipped with screens for virtual spin classes and has an army of celebrity fans including David Beckham and Hugh Jackman – has reached such a pitch that $1.5bn has been wiped off its value, which had reached $9.39bn before the advert. On Tuesday its shares fell 9%, and by lunchtime on Wednesday the shares were down another 6%.
