We recently asked 50 questions about the disturbing Peloton commercial, which has been criticized for being classist and sexist, but one question we didn’t ask was: what does the actress in the ad think about her newfound fame? Monica Ruiz, who reprised her role as Wife Blinking “Help Me” in Morse Code in a knowing Aviation Gin spot, sat down with the Today show on Thursday to discuss the response to the commercial.
“Honestly, I think it was just my face,” she said, referring to the expression she makes in response to her husband’s stationary bike present. “My eyebrows look, like, worried, I guess. People were like, she looks scared… I’m telling you it was my face, that was the problem, and it just exploded from there.” The Christmas-themed spot, entitled “The Gift That Gives Back,” has over eight million views on YouTube, which would be excellent news for Peloton, if the company’s stock hadn’t plummeted. Ruiz was joined on Today by Aviation co-owner Ryan Reynolds, who called making the gin ad a “no-brainer.”
The actress said her first reaction to the proposal that she do the liquor ad was, “Oh, I don’t think so,” because she said she had an “amazing experience” shooting the Peloton commercial and didn’t want to look like she was mocking the company. But she said that she was assured that the gin ad “was an idea that was just taking air out of the situation.” (Via)
Ruiz hopes she’s not pigeonholed as the face of martial distress (“I’m not actually the Peloton lady and let me work other jobs”) or, worse yet, the world’s biggest Tal Bachman fan. They’re the real winners in this whole mess; it’s only a matter of time before they get the nostalgic 1990s band timeslot usually reserved for Third Eye Blind at Coachella.
