An actor is pictured in this screengrab from “The Gift That Gives Back” exercise bike commercial by Peloton obtained December 4, 2019. Peloton via REUTERS
December 7, 2019
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The actress who appeared in a widely criticized Christmas advertisement for exercise bike maker Peloton Interactive Inc has a new role selling gin for actor Ryan Reynolds.
The tongue-in-cheek video advertisement for Aviation American Gin, tweeted by Reynolds on Friday, already has more than 5 million views.
People Magazine and other media outlets identified the woman in the ads as Monica Ruiz, a California-based actress.
Peloton’s Christmas advertisement, called “The Gift That Gives Back,” shows Ruiz receiving a Peloton bike as a gift from her husband. She records her workouts over a year and shares them with him through a video blog. The 30-second ad sparked a storm on Twitter, with several users pegging it as sexist.
Some said the husband was “controlling” and “manipulative” for buying his wife an exercise bike and that the ad suggested that he thought she needed to lose weight.
At the time, Peloton said it was disappointed that some misinterpreted the commercial’s message.
In the new gin ad, three women are out for a holiday drink. “You are safe here,” one friend tells Ruiz. The trio toast to new beginnings and the ad ends with a voice saying, “you look great by the way.”
Reynolds, an owner of American Aviation Gin and an actor known for his roles in Marvel Comic’s superhero “Deadpool” movies, told his Twitter followers “Exercise bike not included.”
(Reporting by Anna Driver; editing by Grant McCool and Daniel Wallis)
