Actor and singer Donnie Wahlberg has joined the Chattanooga-based Echelon fitness community and used the opportunity to poke fun at a new exercise bike commercial that has drawn backlash.
A Facebook post by Echelon indicates Wahlberg, a founding member of the boy band New Kids on the Block and star on the TV drama series "Blue Bloods," bought an Echelon bike for his wife, TV host and actress Jenny McCarthy.
"Donnie Wahlberg surprises Jenny with a new Echelon bike! So happy to have you two in our community!" reads the Echelon post. It includes a photo of Wahlberg with the bike box.
In a post on Instagram, Wahlberg joked: "So, if a guys wife really wants him to get her an exercise bike for Christmas, even if she doesn't appear to need one, and her husband thinks she is perfect in every way, but the wife thinks the bike will give her tremendous joy and she has told her husband on NUMEROUS OCCASIONS that she really wants one - all facts - is he a good hubby if he surprises her with the bike or does he get canceled? Asking for a friend."
His comments came amid a recent controversy surrounding a commercial by Echelon rival Peloton in which a man gives an exercise bike to a woman for Christmas. Critics called the ad sexist while "Saturday Night Live" parodied it on the late-night show.
Peloton later said the ad was misinterpreted.
Echelon Fitness recently announced it's opening a studio in Miami and rolling out new treadmill and rowing machines.
Lou Lentine, a serial inventor and promoter from New Jersey who brought his Viatek Consumer Products to Chattanooga in 2011, created Echelon in 2017 to provide what he calls a more affordable stationary bike with the tracking and interactive features of competitor Peloton and other higher-priced rivals.
With Echelon's bikes sold in stores such as Costco and Walmart, he said the company is trying to appeal to mainstream America.
Earlier this year, Peloton sued Echelon in federal court in Delaware, alleging patent and trade infringement, false advertising and unfair business practices. The lawsuit claims Echelon copied Peloton's federally registered trademark and the Peloton bike's distinctive trade dress, including but not limited to its logo, coloring, and font.
But Lentine has refuted Peloton's lawsuit, noting that a Greenwich, Connecticut, investment firm which this year made a major infusion into Echelon found no such infringement during its due diligence review of the investment.
Lentine said that Echelon expects to end this year with the business having grown two to three times over 2018. While he wouldn't give revenue numbers, he said the company now has just under 100 employees and plans to add another 15 to 20 people.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.