Photo credit CNW Group/Peloton

Peloton Interactive Inc PTON shares are down another 3.3% on Thursday and are now down 13.6% since Monday after a holiday TV commercial went viral on social media. Despite the controversy, Peloton's stock has been a strong performer since its late-September IPO.

The Peloton Ad Controversy

The ad in question features a husband gifting his wife a Peloton exercise bike and follows her year of subsequent workouts. At the end of the ad, the wife re-gifts the husband a video chronicle of her year-long workout journey.

Critics of the ad have called it classist and sexist. But Peloton stood by the ad, saying it's “disappointed” in how some people have “misinterpreted this commercial”.

The ad certainly has StockTwits buzzing. Message volume related to Peloton on the platform has spiked from 167 messages on Nov. 29 to as high as 324 messages on Wednesday. Unfortunately, sentiment of those messages has dropped from 89.4% bullish to 74.2% bullish in that same stretch.

Technical Take On Peloton's Stock

While Peloton stock is taking a beating this week, the stock might have been due for a technical pullback even before the ad controversy. Prior to this week, shares were up 47.5% in a month. Peloton’s RSI had risen as high as 79.8 on Dec. 2, pushing it into extreme overbought territory. The subsequent sell-off has brought Peloton’s RSI back down to 57.8.

In the near term, technical traders are now watching the $31 and $30 levels for potential support. The stock bounced at $31.22 on Wednesday and $31.37 on Thursday morning. The $30 level also appeared to transition from resistance to support in late November.

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Even after this week’s wild ride, Peloton shares are still up 38.5% overall in the past two months and up 10% from their $29 IPO price.

Benzinga’s Take

Assuming the negative feedback from the ad doesn’t hurt Peloton’s brand in the long term, the company has gotten a tremendous amount of publicity from the video. Peloton’s decision to dismiss complaints and stand by its content may mark the beginning of a shift in how companies are handling social media outrage culture.