The now-notorious Peloton commercial has a sequel, thanks in part to Ryan Reynolds. The Deadpool star recently made something of an unofficial follow-up to the ad titled “The Gift that Gives Back,” which features a husband gifting his wife a Peloton exercise bike for Christmas. While the ad drew a lot of negative attention in the wake of its release, Reynolds’ own Aviation Gin released a commercial of their own, titled “The Gift That Doesn’t Give Back,” and it even features the same actress, Monica Ruiz.
While the exercise bike in-question is never actually brought up, Ruiz’s character sits with a blank stare, before it’s revealed she’s sitting at a bar with two friends consoling her after… something. Was it due to a divorce or the destruction of the exercise bike itself? It’s never made clear, but it’s obvious the woman is going to be drinking through whatever she’s dealing with.
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Shortly after its debut in late November, the Peloton ad was railed against online. Critics cited everything from an outdated portrayal of marriage to the wife’s seemingly slave-like devotion to exercising — despite the fact that she seems to hate it. Or, at least, that what she keeps chronicling on her cell phone.
Blowback from the ad was significant, as the company’s stock has dropped a whopping 15% in the wake of its release, which is roughly the value of $1.6 billion, according to Business Insider.
Aside from top-notch gin commercials, Reynolds has a number of big-screen projects in the works, including a remake of Clue and yet another interpretation of A Christmas Carol. However, the big question is how his fourth-wall-breaking portrayal of Deadpool will be introduced into the more conventional Marvel Cinematic Universe.
After Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, it also regained the screen rights to the X-Men, The Fantastic Four, and of course, the Merc with the Mouth. Both Deadpool 3 and X-Force movies have been announced, though it’s unclear how they’ll be merging all these characters with the much larger MCU. It was speculated that last year’s PG-13 recut of Deadpool 2, titled Once Upon a Deadpool, was a way to test whether the character could thrive in a slightly more restrained format.
Reynolds’ next movie, 6 Underground, follows a group of elite mercenaries who fake their deaths to take on the world’s most notorious criminals. The Michael Bay-helmed action flick will premiere on Netflix Dec. 13.
