A resurfaced Planet Fitness TV commercial has gone viral following a conservative boycott of the gym chain over its non-discrimination policy for transgender people.
Shared to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday by Libs of TikTok, the commercial shows a Planet Fitness worker misgendering a female bodybuilder while showing her around the gym.
"We'll finish our tour with the locker rooms," the employee says in the ad. Seemingly unsure of which locker room the new sign-up would use, he tells her "after you."
"No, no, after you," she replies, with the employee awkwardly walking towards the men's facilities. The woman coughs, indicating that he'd made the wrong choice.
"Had a tickle in my throat," she says, seemingly unimpressed, before the employee looks away and mutters, "I don't know which one you're supposed to use."
Since being shared to the social media platform, the post has received over 2.8 million views.
Although there was no date in the post and clips of the commercial are difficult to find, the commercial features actress and fitness model Jayne Trcka. According to IMDB, she appeared in a Planet Fitness commercial in 2012.
Trcka is best known for her role as Miss Mann from the first Scary Movie film. The 61-year-old portrayed a man pretending to be a female gym teacher in order to gain access to students.
Newsweek has reached out to Planet Fitness for comment via email.
The resurfaced commercial sparked uproar on the social media platform, with X users like @GreenEy3sOpen calling the ad "gross and offensive."
"This can not be real," commented user @Geisterjagr4.
"I'm honestly confused who they're targeting here," said user Richard Pierce.
"What an odd ad to entice new members..." wrote Christy Canyon.
"Totally tone deaf..." commented @VoteChecker.
Other X users, meanwhile, saw the ad as "making a mockery of protecting girls."
"It's unacceptable for them to make light of such important issues," wrote Selin Arson.
"Makes no sense the board would stand behind this, but here we are..." commented @Cop4x4.
"There are women only fitness clubs, go support your fellow women or start your own women's only fitness club," added LJ Lindsey.
"Canceling my membership tomorrow. Done with this crap," commented Brad Hansen.
A boycott was sparked against Planet Fitness last week following the gym's handling of transgender rights' issues.
Planet Fitness revoked the membership of Patricia Silva after she photographed another gym member shaving in the women's locker room. The other gym-goer is transgender, with Silva protesting the woman's presence in a video shared to Facebook.
Silva also complained about the woman to staff members. According to Planet Fitness' non-discrimination policies, the chain does not "tolerate verbal or physical harassment of any member or team member for any reason."
A spokesperson for Planet Fitness told local media that because Silva took an image of a person inside a locker room, it violated the company's mobile device policy and goes against the gym's "judgment-free" rules.
Employees also do not discriminate against transgender individuals unless "serious concern or significant doubt" about their gender identity.
Boycotters also suggested that the chain's non-discrimination policy was responsible for an assault in September 2023. A 15-year-old girl reported a biological male exposing themselves in a Planet Fitness locker room in Monroe, Georgia, with the teen's family filing a lawsuit against the brand.
The family's lawyer said the alleged perpetrator had several warrants for public indecency, accusing staff members of ignoring the behavior because the offender "identified as a female."
The furor reflects a growing divide on the issue of transgender rights in the United States, with bills targeting the rights of transgender people being embraced by Republican governors and statehouses across the country, and companies such as Bud Light facing boycotts from conservatives as well as some women's rights groups.
In addition, Planet Fitness has lost $400 million off its market value since the boycott began, dropping from $5.3 million to $4.9 million.
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