11 months into the Covid-19 pandemic and holed up in our home, in February 2021, the outside world delivered to our door sustaining relief.
Two men lugged a big box to our basement, unpacked and assembled the Peloton bike we ordered more than three months prior. The impatience we endured prior to its delivery, delayed to due to burgeoning backorders, burned through, and away, with the very first spin.
100 (+) rides later, and to this day, I credit the bike and Peloton’s programming with launching the endorphins that have kept me mentally above water amidst the drowning despair of the pandemic. And so, last week I smiled when I joined my wife for some light entertainment midway through episode two of ‘And Just Like That’ (Sex in the City’s re-boot) in time to see Mr. Big similarly sweating toward the crescendo-ed conclusion of his Peloton ride.
“Companies pay big bucks for product placements like that,” I remarked to Linda.
A few moments later, Mr. Big went into cardiac arrest, living long enough for his TV wife Carrie to arrive home and watch him die.
Stunned, we winced, then concluded, “Ooh. That’s not good for Peloton.”
Peloton, the company, has sustained a fair share of public relations problems the past year, from the recall of its treadmills last spring following a child’s death and its subsequent response, to its CEO’s instructor-studded holiday party this past week. HBO’s unexpected scripting of Mr. Big’s post-Peloton death continues to impose a financial assault on its stock price.
Publicly traded, consumer-focused organizations often respond to such events through a statement or comment to provide stakeholders with perspective they need to assess the situation. As a big fan of my Peloton bike, as well as a PR practitioner, I waited for word – the company’s word – on how fictional Mr. Big’s Peloton-induced heart attack was just that: fiction.
Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a cardiologist on Peloton’s health and wellness advisory council, delivered the company’s comment within the fictional framework where the PR crisis unfolded. “Mr. Big lived what many would call an extravagant lifestyle, including cocktails, cigars and big steaks and was at serious risk as he had a previous cardiac event in Season 6,” she said. “Riding his Peloton bike may have even helped delay his cardiac event.”
‘And Just Like That’ is a made-up series. Mr. Big is a make-believe character. His heart attack never happened. Peloton’s decision to deliver its initial comment within the HBO-created scene setting is questionable to me amidst the real-life consequences the company sustained in real time. And in choosing to do so, why not extol the benefits of owning and riding a Peloton bike, rather than diverting focus to the unhealthy, writer-created behavior of the character who died?
Folks who know me know of my aversion to the practice of “spin” in explaining publicly why something went wrong or fell short. Spin as a strategy rarely results in an ultimate win (with the exception, perhaps of politicos). For sure, an organization’s public comments should advance its best interests, but many recognize that honesty, forthrightness and even the expression of regret are compatible with that goal. Disingenuousness, half-truths, and deceit spun into a response tend to prolong problems, and foster distrust.
To provide clarity to its audiences, in its initial response, Peloton had the opportunity to forcefully disavow the fake event with simple facts, that might have included:
· ‘And Just Like That’ is a fictional show. Scenarios that occur in the series are fiction.
· Peloton bikes are safe, innovative and best-in-class.
· Peloton enables nearly 6 million people around the world to meet their fitness goals and improve the health of their heart and lungs.
Several days had passed when the company took steps to attempt to further defend its reputation and that of its premier product by widely distributing a quickly turned commercial.
Created in the vein of the fictional storyline that first caused the controversy, it showcases Mr. Big, along with a Peloton instructor and some Peloton bikes. Belatedly and fleetingly, it ends with a statement Peloton could have delivered from the onset: “Regular cycling stimulates and improves your heart, lungs and circulation, reducing your risk of cardiovascular diseases. Cycling strengthens your heart muscles, lowers resting pulse and reduces blood fat levels,” a narrator asserts.
Creating distance from the issue Peloton unwittingly inherited, the narrator nonetheless gives it a final nod. “He’s alive”, he says in conclusion, a reference to the real actor whose Peloton-precipitated death was never real to begin with.