Major spoilers for And Just Like That
Late last week, Peloton’s stock dropped 11% overnight following the death of a major character in And Just Like That after a Peloton spin workout. I’m surprised that an onscreen death could lead to a stock losing value, but it happened. Peloton had a member of their health and wellness board, a cardiologist named Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, issue a statement about Mr. Big’s death, which you’ve surely heard about by now. Dr. Steinbaum cited Big’s cardiac scare in season six and his lifestyle as factors leading to his fatal heart attack. She added that riding his Peloton could have delayed his death.
In response to this, there’s a new Peloton commercial featuring Chris Noth and Peloton instructor Jess King, who appears in the episode as a Spanish instructor named Allegra. Jess and Chris are sitting in front of a fire talking about “new beginnings” and suggesting they take another ride. As the camera pans back to two Peloton bikes facing each other, Ryan Reynold speeds narrates to let us know that regular cycling reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease, ending with “he’s alive.” Here’s that commercial.
It turns out the commercial was produced by Ryan Reynolds’ ad company, Maximum Effort, which E! reminds me created the 2019 ad for Aviation gin starring the Peloton wife. If you’re not familiar with that, Peloton had an ad which went viral featuring a surprise gift of a bike from a husband to his wife. It was tone deaf and made it seem like the husband was controlling his wife’s workouts. Reynolds capitalized on that in his ad by having the wife go out with her girlfriends and get drunk on Aviation gin. She toasts to “new beginnings,” just like Noth and King. It was a smart move by Peloton to hire Reynolds’ company for this, and makes it seem like they’re game to make fun of themselves. That hasn’t always been the case.
There’s some question as to whether Peloton will sue based on the portrayal of their brand. Peloton approved Jess King’s appearance and the use of their bike but they didn’t know the plot details ahead of time. The NY Times quotes an expert who says they can theoretically sue because their brand was damaged. I doubt they’ll do this. It seems like the commercial is their response instead.
I’m not a Sex and The City fan and only saw a few episodes when it was on, but I watched the end of the first AJLT episode when Mr. Big kicked it. Carrie stood there for an eternity before finally rushing to Big. She should have started doing CPR or at least called 911! Instead she held him as he died. It was asinine, but that’s how this show has always been.
Peloton was faster with a response than Carrie was with dialing 911.
— Shep (@ShepHerdsTV) December 12, 2021
Cherry on top would have been if he was with Samantha… pic.twitter.com/scr2dN2J6f
— Megan Inaba (@meganinaba) December 12, 2021
is SHE alive tho pic.twitter.com/7PdIbq1afU
— jeremiah moriarty (@miahmoriarty) December 12, 2021
photos credit: Backgrid and via Instagram
I honestly hate that Ryan Reynolds owns an advertising company now. He’s going to be doing all the voiceovers in all commercials in the future.
LOL, hate is big word for that little ”inconvenience”. Life must me hard for you.
This is a pop culture site. We can use words like “love” and “hate” about pop culture-related happenings without it actually being that deep. It’s been a really freaking hard two years — let us please just be nice to each other. For many people, this is a fun place to escape from, yes, an otherwise hard time in life.
@Soni I am with you, I hate it too. His voiceovers already drive me nuts, can’t imagine more.
@northerngirl – are you ok? Seems like an unnecessary/disproportionate response to say “life must be hard for you” to someone not liking Ryan Reynolds having an advertising company…
We say we hate things all the time on this site, not sure why this little comment really got to you, seemed weird to me. But I don’t like pelotons, gin, ryan reynolds so maybe that’s why 😂
AdWeek is saying that Reynold’s company pulled the spot together in 48 hours. What that says to me is that they have some very good, very smart and very creative people working there.
They also backed up a truckload of cash into Chris Noth’s driveway. Jess King got a payday, but not like his. All for (on their part) about 6 hours of work.
Okay, the ad is great, but… why didn’t Peloton ask to review the script prior to agreeing to the product placement? I feel like this is on them for not doing their due diligence in the first place.
I’ve read there were “confidentiality issues” – the producers wanted to keep the death a secret.
The ad was better than the first episode and entire series according to SM.
Absolutely agreed. This ad at least made me giggle. The 1st episode was so depressing. I will most likely be in the minority here. I loved SATC (the series) as a snapshot in time. Problematic? Yes, however what was filmed at that time is what was accepted in our culture at that time. If I need to unwind, I will watch a couple of episodes. I don’t need to see iconic Big die in the first 20 minutes, reminders of the pandemic and then have to worry about how they will write Stanford out of the script as Willie died during filming. SATC had some laughs, some stuff that is laughable, and some stuff that was fantasy (i.e. Carrie’s shoe collection).
It’s brilliant!
Peloton has been declining steadily during this entire year – down 73% over the year – 40 points just in the first week of November. People bought a lot of equipment during the lockdowns…and then the gyms opened up again. So, a TV death didn’t really make the stock drop, it just made people want to sell more.
Agreed – not to mention the market has been swarmed with similar products from Tonal and the rowing machine. The unique wore off combined with some bad publicity related to injuries.
I think it’s a 1-2 punch with the bad PR they got for their treadmills and now this. i don’t know who in marketing thought this was a good idea. But i guess if you are talking about them they see it as free publicity?
We all knew for the show to go forward someone would have to die. But the first 2 episodes are pretty depressing. I hope they find the funny again.
Big’s death scene was so stupid. I know him staying conscious until Carrie comes home was supposed to be romantic and all that jazz, but I just cringed.
It was horrible. My father died of a heart attack at home. The last thing you do is cuddle. You freak out and dial 911, then continue freaking out. I swore I wouldn’t watch this show, but I did and immediately regretted it.
I’m so sorry for your loss!
My mom had a minor stroke two years ago and her husband called 911 immediately instead of kissing her and holding her in his arms.
The death scene was all about Carrie, and Big’s death makes sure that she’ll continue to be the star of the show and will get “interesting” story lines while Miranda and Charlotte get the plot left overs
Quite frankly, this show is offensive and awful. From Miranda’s all- encompassing idiocy to the cringe of Mr Big being strong-armed into masturbating by Carrie right down to the Lena Dunham level of gross re.Brady and his sex life. I just can’t. I am by no means a prude. But this shlock. No wit, no sparkle and no sex (at least the fun kind). Just dreadful all around.
I had to skip the sex scene with Brady and his girlfriend. I know the actors are not minors, but it made me so uncomfortable.
Sex positive or not, what teenager has loud sex with the bed knocking against the wall when their parents’ bedroom is on the other side of that wall?! They took that joke way too far.
Yeah it was not great. I vaguely remember enjoying the original show… the characters seem pretty tired at this point though. Also WOW, I guess I had forgotten the amount of wealth and privilege they all have.
I also felt the way they handled the separation form Samantha was weird and forced. Like Samantha would really never speak to Carrie again??? Doesn’t make sense for these characters.
I was really triggered. I woke up and found my husband unresponsive on the couch. I freaked out and called 911. His eyes weren’t even open like Big’s were. I’m like “b-tch! Call 911” and then I really lost it at the second episode with Stanford. I’m not sure I can go a whole season.
I’m sorry about that. I don’t watch this show but when I heard about this scene, I thought about my friend who found her dad in a similar state. Seems like a really realistic and triggering event to feature on what I understand to be a lighthearted show.
I watched just to see what it would be like and won’t watch the rest of the season. It’s all wrong. The waiting and holding Big. I can understand freezing for a moment but instinct would be to call 911. I especially hate why Samantha left: no longer being Carrie’s publicist. That doesn’t even sound like her not to mention not speaking to Charlotte and Miranda. There was barely POC for six seasons and two movies now they’re tripping over them. It’s just so stupid.
It’s all around stupid. And yeah, I can understand freaking out for a brief moment, but : you call 911 and you call the security desk downstairs. Surely, a posh building full of rich middle-aged people and a 24/7 doorman has a defibrillator! Once this is done, you can freak out and hug all you one, other ppl will be in charge. I found my dad unresponsive in the bathroom when I was 6, I acted in a more mature way than Carrie
I had the same thought but I watched it a second time and I wonder if it was time slowed down, like how a few seconds can seem like minutes in a crisis? Could Big have called earlier too? Or are people that incapacitated? Ugh scary…
Carrie’s freeze at the sight of Big on the floor was for me the most realistic part of that scene. I admit: I’m a freeze-er. When my dog had a seizure a few years ago in front of me, I just shut down mentally and stared at him as he twitched on the floor. I did finally react and got him to an emergency vet right away, but I’m sure I was ‘stuck’ for at least 60 seconds. And when I finally snapped out of it, I screamed and grabbed my poor doggie (although I did scoop him up and put him in the car).
Sometimes horrible things happen, and we haven’t the presence of mind or fortitude to react immediately. I’m watching AJLT out of nostalgia, and I’m not sure if I’ll watch the whole thing, but I just GOT that scene.
At least they gave Big a teenage wife in the face-saving ad. I’d hate to see him saddled with another age-appropriate woman.
@bettyrose that’s not his “wife” that’s the Peloton instructor that was in the episode. I guess the twist was supposed to be he faked his death to run away with the instructor and ride Peloton happily ever after….
I mean, she was still 1/2 his age? Following on the creepy domestic abuse ad they used to run, Peloton is just not caring about attracting middle aged women. Which is so weird because we’re the ones who have the combined disposable income for trendy workouts and internal desire to maintain our youthful fitness levels.
That’s the truth and I went to a Peloton over Thanksgiving weekend to try one. I thought for almost 2K it was pretty uncomfortable. I would rather spend 200 bucks on a trainer and hook up my bike to it. And watch free youtube videos to ride along with.
Jess King is in her 30s.
I was exaggerating obviously but she’s still half his age. Why is everyone jumping on the bandwagon to defend Peloton?
Not defending Peloton, but I don’t get your post, either. Big died on the show riding a Peloton. Jess was the instructor on the show who was coaching him on the Peloton, plus she’s a senior spokesperson for the company itself. So, why wouldn’t both of them be in a commercial contradicting specifically what was in the show? If Peloton wants to attract middle-aged women they can do it with a different commercial.
I found the juxtaposition of the dramatic piano playing with the peloton riding deeply deeply funny….which I don’t think was the intent.
I think it was entirely the point! A fictional character died, not an actual person.
I waited on SJP once when I worked at a midtown Manhattan restaurant in 2001. She was not nice. I would say she’s the definition of a mean girl and she made me feel totally awkward and small when I was so excited to serve her. Then I got to meet Chris Noth one night about 5 or 6 years ago while I was at dinner at Chateau Marmont. And let me tell you he was typecast. Total POS. Seriously the biggest asshole I’ve ever met maybe except for Jerry Seinfeld. In the brief time I was in the smoking area where he was drunkenly smoking cigars and singing Beatles songs he actually bullied me and made me cry. I am not kidding. All because I TRIED TO SING ALONG. To a Beatles song! I decided to leave and go home because of him and the hostess said she totally understood what I was going through because he was a notoriously difficult customer there. So I’m not sorry his character was killed off, and I have zero interest in this show, which is nothing without Kim Cattrall. Team Samantha Forever.