Equinox: the Anti-Gym

We all know that “losing weight” is the most popular New Year’s Resolution.  Of course, 60% of gym memberships go unused, according to Time Magazine (revenue with no work!).  At any rate, January is the time to see gym rate deals, books on diet and exercise, infomercials, and discounts on home gym equipment.  I get it, businesses are simply trying to make money and they see an opportunity after we’ve all eaten too much and been lazy too many days over the holidays. 

I’m sure you’ve seen these commercials with before and after pictures; claiming they lost all their weight with some wondrous diet pills.  I’ve seen ads for shake diets, Charles Barkley who is the new spokesman for Weight Watchers, and even clothing apparatuses that somehow take inches off of your body while in use.  I find a lot of these products laughable, and sometimes the commercials are good sources of unintentional comedic relief, but companies wouldn’t spend thousands of dollars on advertising them if the advertisements didn’t work.  On the other hand, some of these companies have invested in good marketing teams and have very tempting campaigns, such as the Bowflex TreadClimber. 

We, the consumers, judge and validate these marketing campaigns by how we choose to spend our money.  Though the gym or equipment that speaks to us is totally different for each person, I’ve noticed that there are some common themes.  For one, you’ll never see fat people using the equipment unless it’s a “before” shot.  Secondly, the people modeling the equipment look like they’re having so much fun they can’t contain themselves.  Three, most of the models look like they don’t use the equipment; the females usually have no muscle tone and the men look like they needed steroids to get their results. 

Well, one gym this year based out of New York has taken their marketing to a whole new level.  Equinox Gym's New Year’s marketing shows pictures of extremely skinny models doing out of the gym activities.  Here are just two of their advertisements.

I am happy to say that there has been a negative response to these ads.  Equinox’s Facebook account was flooded with complaints from their customers saying that their models look unhealthy and anorexic.  Equinox and the fashion designer photographer, Terry Richardson, are also getting all kinds of criticism from the general public.  ABC even published a very short article for which “Neither Terry Richardson nor Equinox returned requests from ABC News for comment.” 

However, not all Equinox clients were unhappy and were even defending the ads. 

According to Susanna Kim’s ABC piece, 

“The people who complain, have missed the point … and the message it is meant to convey,” an Equinox member wrote in defense of the ads. “The selection of models and the images show Equinox as high fashion, cool, hip and edgy.”

Sweat Angel

Seriously, that’s what some people want in a gym?!?  “[H]igh fashion, cool, hip and edgy”?  Give me a break!  This is my definition of the anti-gym.  The complete opposite of what I’m looking for.  Either the person who made this statement doesn’t understand the point of marketing, or Equinox itself doesn’t understand the point of a gym.  Or maybe Equinox is simply catering to what the people want and making the ads and their gym all about appearance.  This is what really bothers me.  I’m glad even their own clients are complaining that the women in the ads are too thin and look hungry, but I’m also annoyed that the ads are focusing on appearance - yet again - and not performance. 

I want to see ads that show normal people really doing the prescribed workouts.  I want to see muscle and sweat.  I don’t go to the gym for the atmosphere or to be hip.  I go to challenge myself and to work hard.  I want to see sweat-angels, red-faces, and even an occasional hand-tear from pull-ups.

When I go to the gym I want to hear heavy breathing, grunts and moans, weights clanking, and frankly maybe a cuss word here and there.

With Crossfit you not only experience all of these things but also occasional inspirational yelling from a coach, encouragement and correction from trainers, and cheers from fellow athletes.  And guess what?  Most of us don’t wear make-up, have cute matching outfits or chew gum, read fashion magazines, or anything else that would qualify as fashionable, hip, or edgy.  We work our butts off and get results that are objectively measurable in weight (lifted, not on the bathroom scale), distance, time and repetitions completed. 

So to Equinox, fashion photographer Terry Richardson, and anyone who supports Equinox’s new ad campaign here’s a big, bitter “screw you” and a welcome invitation to any of their current clients to say the same by joining a Crossfit gym and getting some real, measurable results.