Peloton's Bizarre New Commercial Is Drawing Comparisons to Black Mirror

The holiday season is upon us, and companies are rolling out festive advertisements that range from delightful to cringeworthy. One commercial that has recently begun to hit the airwaves - and has become a bit of an enigma in the process - is a recent advertisement for Peloton, the exercise bike that offers live classes and a sense of community from the comfort of your own home.

The commercial follows a young woman (who we later learn is "Grace in Boston"), whose husband gives her a Peloton bike on Christmas morning. Grace gradually begins to use the bike, while awkwardly vlogging the whole process in short Instagram Stories-esque videos, and gradually becomes more accustomed to the Peloton lifestyle. The commercial ends with Grace showing a compilation of the videos to her husband, as a sort of thank you for motivating her by buying the bike. "A year ago, I didn't realize how much this would change me," Grace eventually proclaims in the video.

The advertisement has raised genuine confusion and dislike for an array of reasons, ranging from the true motives of the husband buying the bike to the precarious way that "Grace" holds up her phone. Among the discourse was a very specific through-line -- that the commercial could easily be mistaken for a plot of Black Mirror, Netflix's technology-based horror anthology series. Some joked that it was an exercise-themed take on the Jon Hamm-led "White Christmas" episode, while others pointed out a similarity to "Fifteen Million Merits", an episode where most of society is enslaved to pedal on an exercise bike to generate electricity. Here are just a few of those responses.