Dearest Peloton
Dearest Peloton,
Where were you when I was younger and only saw Asian men as the “foreigner” with accents, karate chops, and Asian men as the guy who never gets the girl? Would I have had a better self image of myself as an Asian man? I’ll never know, but I’m happy you are here now.
You are the best company I’ve ever worked with. Here is my disclaimer for the rest of this post: I was not sponsored or hired to write this post and Peloton has nothing to do with my opinion or outlook in what I write. I’m just the talent in their commercial and writing a blog about my feelings and experience with Peloton mixed with what is going on in the world today.
I was on set in February and had such a great experience. I had to tell the people who hired me that they were the best company I’ve ever worked with and it was the best experience in my 10 plus years of shooting commercials. And I meant it.
And then the pandemic hit and not only did we as a nation face something we’ve never experienced before, but I saw the nation look a group of people to blame. I saw people take their frustrations and anger out on Asian Americans as hate crimes increased and Asians spoke out, yet it fell on deaf ears. I even saw other Asian American’s take the side of the person who was doing the hate crime. The comments were along the lines of, “We’re privileged as a group and other races had it worse.” They excused and justified the crimes and stood by the sidelines, marginalizing their own community. This disappointed me.
The Peloton commercial wasn’t set to release for a few more months and I was afraid that I was going to be cut out of the commercial (which also means I wouldn’t be paid usage fee’s) because I saw the Asian community being discriminated, physically beat up and put on fire, and their businesses boycotted and looted. If I had been cut, I would have been pissed and poorer. The beginning of 2020 seemed like it was a decade ago, as Parasites won an Oscar. When Covid 19 shut down America, Asian Americans took a big drop in good standing in the USA’s eyes, as Covid-19 was now labeled the “Chinese virus.” 2020 went from becoming the best year of my life and seemed that success was around the corner finally, and I was getting opportunity for the first time in my life because I was Asian, and now, it seemed like being Asian was again a handicap. But I thank Peloton for having the courage to sticking by their mission statement.
MISSION
Peloton uses technology and design to connect the world through fitness, empowering people to be the best version of themselves anywhere, anytime.
What i love about fitness is that I don’t feel like “other” or a foreigner. Entertainment could learn alot about Peloton, their marketing, and how they include people of color.
Thank you Peloton for making me feel like it was for everyone, and for people who look like me. Thank you for treating me better than any other company and brand has ever treated me.
Thank you for not seeing race as just Black and White. Thank you for helping me to show younger versions of myself that I’m more than just a stereotype and not boxing me into a category that I don’t belong in.
Dearest Peloton, to me, even though it seems so small, and I’m sure ridiculous to others that I’m thanking you so much, its a huge deal for me. In my book, you made a statement and you were the bigger voice and took the bigger stand to include Asian Americans, and let me and other Asian Americans, and Americans know that we are NOT the virus. We have an equal right to be included in everything, including fitness, and we are not the enemy.
*I’m not an English major and I don’t pay attention to grammar or misspelling, I speak as I think and feel and reread it once to make sure it makes sense. Editing is made for editors, I’m more of a speaker than a writer and doing the best I can. But if you want to donate editing for my blogs and future writing, please email me: contact@kevinkreider.com
Comments on spelling and grammar are welcome if you feel the need to feel better about yourself for the moment.