Baby Yoda vs. Scared Peloton Woman
This week’s cycling memes face off
The past week has been flush with cycling-meme content. The Mandalorian’s Baby Yoda has taken the world by storm and, to the delight of Twitter users, Peloton’s advertising team has once again missed the mark. Here’s a breakdown of which meme won the hearts of cyclists this week.
Scared Peloton Woman
Peloton released its holiday ad campaign in November but a viral tweet from @SamuelMoen brought it into the collective consciousness this week, tweeting “This ad is making me lose my goddamn mind”.
The ad has been criticised for being sexist and for the implication that the husband bought the wife the bike to make her lose weight.
Nothing says “maybe you should lose a few pounds” like gifting your already rail thin life partner a Peloton pic.twitter.com/E2M9gFdD5A
— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) December 2, 2019
WTF Peloton. You have a 100 lb woman in a commercial looking like a deer in the headlights, exercising on a bike to be a 90 lb woman and that’s to be applauded? Hell NO! This crap is dangerous (anorexia), sexist and just plain stupid and out-of-touch. A bad message…FULL STOP.
— Sydney Chandler (@syds180turn) December 3, 2019
Grace-from-Boston’s scared facial expression throughout the video has spurred an onslaught of memes from cyclists and non-cyclists alike.
This stupid peloton commercial is only ok if you pretend that she has an irrational fear of stationary bikes that she overcomes, and not some wild and ridiculous body dysmorphia. pic.twitter.com/hh23SqbuDj
— Steve-O (@STEVEeeoooo) December 1, 2019
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extremely same energy pic.twitter.com/BCV1I5OffZ
— Claire Fallon (@ClaireEFallon) December 2, 2019
The Verdict:
While Twitter users are well intentioned in their anger, they imply that buying your wife an exercise tool as a gift is directly suggesting that she needs to lose weight. Critics remove the agency from the woman, who, shockingly, may legitimately enjoy exercise for reasons other than shedding fat. The critics of this ad are implying that the only reason people, particularly women, exercise is for weight loss. This train of thought is not helpful to the advancement of women in sport.
As for her scared facial expression, all cyclists know that doing something new in sport will always lead to a level of nerves and excitement. How will you perform? Will you even be able to finish the workout in this new activity? It’s a balance of being a little scared but also enthusiastic.
If we’re criticizing Peloton we should really be focusing on the cost of the bike and training plan. The Peloton costs $3,550 before tax in the first year. For that price you could buy a Tacx Flux 2 Smart Trainer, a Trek Domane AL 3, a Zwift subscription, a TrainerRoad subscription, a pair of Rapha water bottles and still have $751 dollars left over.
Peloton is ridiculous, but not because the company’s ad included a woman excited to receive a exercise-based gift. Grace-from-Boston’s scared facial expression really only works for pre-exercise jitters memes.
Final score: C-
Baby Yoda cycling memes
Baby Yoda, everyone’s new favourite meme fixation, is the cutest thing to come out of the Star War universe since Ewoks (or Porgs. Or stay tuned for “What is cuter on a bike? Baby Yoda vs. Baby Ewok vs. Porg”). His innocent eyes and cute, cosy demeanor make him the perfect vehicle for premium Internet content.
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The verdict:
Baby Yoda is perfect and should be protected at all cost. He is the clear winner of the week.
Final score: A+