The world of memes moves fast and, according to Ryan Reynolds, it only took a few hours to enlist the help of actress Monica Ruiz from a viral Peloton Bike commercial to mock the ad, even admitting that he wished a marketing team had contacted him after the release of 2011’s Green Lantern to find a way to spoof the film. What makes Reynolds efforts for Aviation Gin so impressive is that his commercial debuted so quickly after the Peloton ad went viral, he was able to ride the viral wave of the original commercial to amplify its hilarity immensely.
“Within a few hours of her ad,” Reynolds confirmed with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon about enlisting the actress. “I’ve been there, in that position as an actor, where something doesn’t quite work and I really wish someone from a gin company called me up right after Green Lantern and was like, ‘Hey, I got something funny you can do as an answer to that.’ We got ahold of her, it was really difficult, because nobody knew how to get ahold of her. Obviously the people at Peloton didn’t want us to get ahold of her. But we got ahold of her and within 36 hours we shot, chopped, and put out this commercial.”
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In the original commercial, Ruiz plays a wife who is gifted a Peloton Bike for the holidays, who then goes on to chronicle her experience by vlogging about her exercise regime over the next year. The promo was quickly mocked all across the internet, as what was clearly intended to be an ad to promote physical fitness instead conveyed the tone of what felt like a husband forcing his wife to get in shape against her wishes, more as a punishment than a blessing.
In the Aviation commercial, Ruiz is seen out at a bar with her friends and, while she doesn’t have to directly address the Peloton events, her friends are clearly attempting to console her. The closest the ad comes to directly referencing the viral Peloton clip are the holiday decorations around the bar and the friends encouraging “new beginnings.”
Reynolds is no stranger to lampooning things from earlier in his career that he seemingly regrets, with his Deadpool films often mocking not only Green Lantern, but also his first outing as Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
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