In this article:
- Peloton’s ad made within just 48 hours that brought the Mr. Big character back to life proved to be a viral sensation.
- But within a day, the company pulled the ad from all channels in response to sexual assault allegations against Chris Noth who portrays the character.
Never mind an exercise bike, what Peloton has been through over the past couple of weeks amounts to a rollercoaster ride. The brand appeared on a course to plummet down when the “Sex and the City” reboot connected the death [SPOILER ALERT!!] of a character (the one played by Chris Noth) to his Peloton workout.
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It then snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a video that brought the character back to life and showed him ready to take another ride, as described in The Big Comeback: Ryan Reynolds Rescues Peloton. But that brilliant bit of marketing has now been scrubbed from the brand’s and Reynolds’ channels due to two women accusing North of sexual assault.
While Noth denies that he ever did anything that was not consensual, Peloton still scrubbed the ad. And now the brand should be applauded for doing so and not compromising a standard that supports women when it is inconvenient to do so.
“Every single sexual assault accusation must be taken seriously,” a Peloton representative told The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”
That’s the right stance to take, even when dropping so quickly such a successful bit. People who discount accusations because of political or other expedients undermine women, show that speaking up accomplishes nothing, and so perpetuate the cycle of sexual abuse. Thankfully, customers nowadays will not let that slide.
When it comes to brand identity, integrity matters even more than wit and agility.