Sexy Gym Ads: Clever or Sleazy?

Would make me less likely to join.

I believe in fitness for health and fitness sake, not for a certain look-- so I'd feel like I don't belong. Plus I'd be worried about a redux of my time at Bally's -- more focus on looking good and hitting on the opposite sex among many of the people there, instead of getting a workout done!

these ads dont even look like they are advertising fitness, or even fashion, it seems to me they are selling porn. besides, when you are trying to be healthy and working out, you are not trying to look like a stick figure, i thought we were just trying to stay healthy. i just think its kind of perverted that even health has to be addressed through sexual enticement to get you go to the dang gym. eeew

I wonder if these are the same people who will then turn around and whine that theire gym is nothing but a "meat market"? Because that's what the ads say to me.

I would never join that gym, based on these ads. They remind me of the "Let's Get Physical" craze in the 80's and 90's where everyone (ok, the girls) showed up at the gym in matching leg warmers and headbands. It was all about 'the look' rather than about getting healthy and *gasp* sweaty.

These models look too thin and unhealthy.

I still think big curvy women are more attractive than thin women. Many men have the same concept in hot big people meet club Plusmeet.com

My first impression: What?!

I have to say that the video is very artistic, but not very attractive. It creates an atmosphere that is both modern, classic, and somewhat dark. The image that they created is unique and I would be interested in a tour of their facilities just to see what it's like. However, I wouldn't purchase a membership.

People want to be attractive and their ads basically convey that you will become attractive and people will want you, haha, like the AXE commercials. I think it's effective marketing that can be considered unethical to some. Their campaign doesn't offer a realistic preview of membership.

i live in nyc and my apartment is located near a number of gyms, including an equinox and a Y. my roommate, who's into hoity-toity-ness when it comes to all things, is a member of equinox. she shells out $120 a month and goes there maybe twice a month. the fact that a male Calvin Klein model frequents the same gym gives her a kick.

i, on the other hand, am a member of the Y. i pay $44 a month and i go about 3-4 times a week. equinox may have sexier clientele, fancier amenities, and a certain brand image, but i prefer the Y because it's 3 blocks closer (right across the street from my apt) and nearly a third of the price.

my point is that ads such as these are targeted at consumers who care more about image than about really working out. those who are truly interested in the practicalities of hitting the gym will not be as swayed. fitness, like anything else, is a business. i'm sure equinox would love to pull in more members such as my roommate, who pay the fee and hardly use the facility. these ads just might do the job.

You people don't want to look good naked?

Um, to me that video says, "If you do enough yoga, creepy cosplayers will put a lobster on your you-know-what."

I've always been more attracted to gyms like the Y, where people come to work out, then get out. At least at the Ys I've belonged to, there wasn't much of a social scene.

There were yoga classes (and spinning and dance and personal training, etc.), but the people there were there to work out, not chat.

If you're attracted to a certain gym because of sexy ads, I'd question your commitment to fitness.

+1 to the Stanley Kubrick remark

These ads look less like a gym, and more like a secret society of perverts. WTF? I'm trying to get a workout, not run for president.

I think the ads are gross. I wouldn't join a gym just to make me "sexier" or whatever. I'm sure that gym charges more money for being an "elite" gym where beautiful people work out. I'd rather pay less money and get a membership to a gym where people actually, ya know, WORK OUT instead of dress up in skanky workout clothes and drape on the machines flirting with members of the opposite sex. Give me the Y over an "elite" gym where the gorgeous people hang out any day. I'd much rather get on a Precor next to a 70 year

Worst bunch of hedonistic ads I've ever seen. Marketers sometimes lose the plot I think - sure, make fitness sexy but don't turn it into a group of elitists - I bet the marketing campaign isn't as successful as they'd like because it alienates 90% of gym goers.

RT

Ugh, these ads are gross. I don't want to go to the gym to watch girls (with tons of makeup and perfect hair of course) drape on the cardio equipment and hog the weight machines to flirt with "hot guys". I'd rather go to the Y and hop on a Precor next to a wrinkly 70 year old who's as into his workout as I am. Plus, I'm guessing the membership fees for these "beautiful people" gyms are twice as much as the Y membership. What are you paying for? The eye candy? Big waste of my time :P

The Equinox ads used to be tamer - just basic torso pics of a hot man or woman and usually with a open sweatshirt on or the like. When I was a member of Equinox there would be one of those ads on a phone booth between my office and the gym - which was FANTASTIC motivation as I was making my way towards my morning treadmill torture session.

Having worked in a health club for a few years, I would say those ads really would turn me off if I was going to potentially join a new gym. It is just too much and in an industry where people are self conscious enough, ads like that won't attract the majority of the population, which are needed to get enough members to run a successful gym.

urgh, I just want to come to the gym, do my own thing and have a great time doing it, then leave. There are already too many guys checking girls out for my liking.

The thing that actually worries me about this is the slogan "happily ever" which seems to be telling people that if you go the gym you'll be happy ever after. Sure, being fit can do great things for your health and state of mine - but if there's some fundamental reason you don't like yourself or your life lifting weights won't miraculously change that.

Would make me unlikely to join...

1. I do not have a "perfect" body (by that kind of view anyways) and have no desire to ever have a "perfect" body... figure I'm not wanted there.
I'd also guess the ads would intimidate a lot of those new to exercise, and that's sad to me.

2. I was already the member of one gym where I got hit on constantly and leered at and had to watch a social scene among people who were somehow always at the gym but never working out. Drove me crazy! It's why I am at the Y now even though it costs $ more for me... Don't see that near so much. (I was grandfathered in at a very cheap rate at the old gym, and after I worked there it just got cheaper.)

The intro video... I have no words. That was absurd.

If I were a woman, the ads would probably turn me off completely.

You have to admit that going to the gym for a lot of people is more than just working out. It's a social experience. They train, but they also talk to people, make friends, maybe even get a date. This commercial is so ridiculous in it's unbelievability that these same social gym-goers would never join the gym for that reason based on these commercials. Something more old-school, but more effective, would simply be showing normal, attractive men and women working out and socializing. That sounds like a good experience and something that would probably entice people to go.

I think the ads are dumb just like more of the commenters. If I go to the gym I do not actually see that many scantily clad people, most instead people that are working out hard and focussed on the workout.

I would never get anything done at this gym if I was more worried about how I looked instead of how my form was when working out.

Sex sells though so maybe I am looking at the wrong demographic in my comment here.

I wouldn't work out in a gym like that. Not that I think I'd be leered at (too old, wear ratty old sweatpants, etc.), but the social scene that Heather described would piss me off. All that chit chatting, all the people hanging around the weight machines or worse, sitting on them without using them... I prefer a quieter gym, or at least a gym that has a juice bar or something like that for the social scene to take place at, so the weight room is for real exercising.

We need to remember that these are ADVERTISEMENTS. I am a member of Equinox and, obviously, the gym is not a sweaty oversexed pit of sin - it's a gorgeously designed, convenient, well-lit motivational place with the most amazing showers you've ever seen. So while the ads may be a turnoff to some, they aren't indicative of the clientele or the atmosphere. I will admit that the bodies in the gym on a given day tend toward young, shiny and lithe, but what's wrong with that? We have far fewer orange-tinted muscleheads than my old suburban gym, and everyone is insanely friendly. I've never been hit on (a large percent of the clientele are gay) and I don't see it happening around me, either. Just a bunch of city dwellers trying to stay in shape and escape the crippling Boston cold :) I do pay a handful for membership, but as I have to walk past the gym to get home from work (an excellent motivator), the showers are far better than my own, the classes are interesting and varied and they have FREE RAZORS (come on, that's awesome!), it is worth it.

The sentiments expressed in the comments here frankly don't convince me at all that the ads are distasteful or offputting. I simply think that diet blog readers aren't suckers for heavily sexual advertising. And that's fine... but there are plenty of people who are. Sex DOES sell. It WORKS.

I also don't agree that the women in the ads look unhealthy, or promote unrealistic goals. There exist a wide range of body types that fit into the "healthy" category. My body looks an awful lot like those of the girls in the ads and I maintain it by living a healthy lifestyle and yes, working out at Equinox (sans makeup, thank you.)

Ps. I don't work for Equinox... I swear! I'm just a fan.

the campaigns suck. seriously. horrible.

Seems to me that they're targeting a specific demographic (twenty-somethings to attract the older richer somethings) that that type of advertising would appeal to. I use to be a gym rat at the formerly-known-as Vertical Club, which now is the Reebok Sports club in New York City. It was a huge social club. Some people did not work out at all. Some ladies would walk around with a towel hanging on their arm and never busted a sweat. Personally, I got in the shape of my life, made a lot friends and had a great social life, but as it turned out during that phase of my life (twenty something), they were all just superficial friends, so I kept the body and dumped the friends. Now I have a gym at home.