(Bloomberg) -- The actress from the infamous Peloton ad is back -- and she's breaking the internet again.
In a spot for Ryan Reynolds' Aviation Gin released Friday night, Monica Ruiz sits at a bar with two friends staring blankly.
“This gin is really smooth,” she finally says after a long, thoughtful pause. The friends assure her “you're safe here” and toast “to new beginnings.” Then Ruiz downs a gin martini in a single sip. The clip closes with a shot of an Aviation bottle. “You look great, by the way,” one of her friends says.
Reynolds posted the commercial on Twitter with the caption: “Exercise bike not included.” The hashtag #AviationGin quickly started trending.
Peloton Interactive Inc. was pilloried online after the holiday ad for its stationary exercise bike starring Ruiz struck some viewers as sexist, insensitive and out of touch.
The Peloton commercial featured “Grace from Boston,” a woman documenting a year in her life with the Peloton bike her male partner gave her. Some suggested the spot was about an already thin woman undergoing a strenuous workout in order to lose weight for the guy.
The video went viral on social media, eliciting a scathing parody by comedian Eva Victor and prompting Peloton to close comments on the official YouTube video despite it being viewed almost 5 million times.Peloton shares fell 7.4% last week.
Ruiz, in a statement first reported by Deadline, said she was happy to do the Peloton ad, “and the team was lovely to work with.”
“Although I'm an actress, I am not quite comfortable being in spotlight and I'm terrible on social media,” her statement read. “So to say I was shocked and overwhelmed by the attention this week (especially the negative) is an understatement.”
“When Ryan and his production team called about Aviation Gin, they helped me find some humor in the situation,” she said.
Humor has been a big part of Aviation's brand since Reynolds bought a stake in the company last year. He's appeared in previous ad campaigns, and his image appears at the top of Aviation's official Twitter page.
To contact the reporter on this story: John P. Jones in New York at jjones431@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net
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