Aviation Gin turned Peloton's backlash into its own ad

In late 2019, Peloton released a holiday commercial in which a husband gives his already-fit wife a Peloton exercise bike as a Christmas gift; rather than landing as heartwarming, the ad was widely mocked online as tone-deaf and vaguely coercive, and went viral as a punchline rather than a marketing win — coverage spread across major outlets and social media in the space of days, and Peloton's stock reportedly dropped in the aftermath. The actress in the ad, Monica Ruiz, became an unwitting meme subject overnight.

Ryan Reynolds, who held an ownership stake in Aviation American Gin, saw an opportunity in a competitor's own viral moment rather than in any advertising space Aviation could buy directly — the actress and the cultural conversation around her were already assembled and already commanding attention no unrelated new ad campaign could easily replicate from scratch.

Reynolds texted the idea to his production partner George Dewey at Maximum Effort Productions, and the two produced and published a follow-up ad within 75 hours: it reprised Monica Ruiz as the same 'Peloton wife,' now visibly shaken by the bike ordeal, drinking Aviation Gin with friends at a bar instead — directly continuing the exact character and premise the public was already talking about, rather than building a new, unconnected campaign around the gin itself.

Reprised the same actress and character from Peloton's ad within 75 hours, redirecting the existing audience to Aviation Gin instead of building a new campaign.

The actress and premise were already famous, so the sequel needed no introduction.

Speed (75 hours) meant the ad launched while the controversy was still peaking.

By continuing the same character, Aviation's message rode existing attention instead of competing for new.

The clever, self-aware tone made the hijack feel witty, not opportunistic.

When a competitor's failure goes viral, you can hijack that attention by directly continuing their story, but only if you move faster than the news cycle.

The ad reached roughly 10 million views across platforms within days (9.4 million on Twitter, close to 4 million on YouTube) and was ranked among Adweek's best ads of the year. Aviation's sales reportedly doubled in the following year, and in 2020 spirits giant Diageo acquired the brand in a deal worth up to $610 million, including an initial $335 million payment plus performance-based payouts.