Peloton

Peloton Interactive's spokesperson says the company's Christmas ad in which a husband shocks his wife with a stationary bike truly "celebrates" the fitness and wellness journey.

Even for a PR person, that's some pretty strong spinning,

Shouldn't the person "gifted" with the $2,245 bike be the one who decides whether or not to embark upon the fitness and wellness journey? It's still a free country, isn't it?

In the Peloton ad, the newly drafted cyclist has a look of terror on her face, as if she fears not being able to measure up to the goals set by her husband.

Beyond the Pelo bubble, hubby comes across as a sexist lout who wants his already super-thin wife to lose even more weight. That's body-shaming.

Sean Hunter, the actor who plays the husband in the 30-second spot, thinks so. “My image is being associated with sexism, with the patriarchy, with abuse, with these words that I am seeing people write about me — that’s not who I am,” he told Good Morning America on Dec. 6.

Does Peloton think that anyone who was even remotely thinking about buying one of its overpriced exercise bikes for an unsuspecting wife, husband, partner, significant other or anybody for that matter, is now going to pull the trigger?

The bike may screw up both the holiday season and the relationship.

The company's spokesperson is "disappointed in how some have misrepresented the commercial" but is encouraged and grateful for the "outpouring of support we’ve received from those who understand what we were trying to communicate."

My hunch is that outpouring flowed from the cultish Pelo-fans that Amanda Mull profiled in the December issue of The Atlantic.

The Peloton ad charts the women's journey. “A year ago, I didn’t realize how much this would change me,” she tells him. “Thank you.”

My 24-year-old daughter told me the cyclist pretty much looks the same physically before and after a year of working out on her Christmas surprise

The actress must have been referring to a change in her mental state after drinking the Peloton Kool-Aid.