Peloton pulls Sex and the City reactive ad over Chris Noth allegations
Peloton has hastily withdrawn a reactive ad responding to a Sex and the City plotline pertaining to the death of actor Chris Noth on one of its exercise bikes following allegations of sexual assault.
Two women have come forward, detailing two incidents a decade apart. Noth categorically denies the accusations, insisting that both encounters were consensual.
The ad (above), widely perceived as a last-minute save by the home fitness brand. The newly contentious ad made light of the potentially lethal nature of exercising at home, as demonstrated by Noth who was depicted suffering a deadly heart attack after braving one of the machines while reprising his role as Mr Big in the 'And Just Like That' TV revival of the 1990s classic.
The decision to pull 'Unspoiler Alert' will not have been taken lightly. The ad has been expunged from all social channels within hours of the scandal coming to light in the Hollywood Reporter.
The tongue-in-cheek rebuttal by Ryan Reynolds was helmed by Maximum Effort Productions with the celebrity creative exclaiming 'he's alive!' as Noth pondered a stationary bike with real-life Peloton instructor Jess King. The 48-hour turnaround led many to suspect a pre-planned publicity stunt but Peloton was as much in the dark too apparently.
In a statement, a Peloton representative told Adweek. “Every single sexual assault accusation must be taken seriously. We were unaware of these allegations when we featured Chris Noth in our response to HBO’s reboot. As we seek to learn more, we have stopped promoting this video and archived related social posts.”
Peloton has been willing to spend big to protect its public image, lavishing $198m on media between January and September according to Kantar Media - up from just $57m the year before.
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