One fitness club earned cheers and jeers on New Year’s Day with an anti-resolution campaign encouraging patrons to take their ambitions “somewhere else.”
Frequent gym-goers often lament the changing of the calendar as their preferred fitness havens fill with selfie-takers, squat rack curlers and sincere new members simply overcrowding the place. To combat the “new year, new you” vibes, Equinox launched a new marketing campaign promoting lifestyle changes by banning new memberships.
The “We Don’t Speak January” slogan launched on Jan. 1 specifically prohibiting new memberships until the following day. On their social media page, the fitness club posted an image of a message affixed to a wall that began, “January is a language we don’t understand.”
It’s not you, it’s January. #ItsNotFitnessItsLife pic.twitter.com/Bg6lBnSUR2
— Equinox (@Equinox) January 1, 2023
Adding the hashtag “ItsNotFitnessItsLife” to the caption “It’s not you, it’s January,” the promotion continued to state the month is “a fantasy, delivered to your door in a pastel-colored box. It talks about change. It wants you to start something when you should be in the middle of it. It thinks time is on its side. It needs a new outfit before it can begin. Shortcutting, giving up just a few weeks later.”
Public reaction was mixed as one user shared marketing from Equinox’s website that also read, “You are not a New Year’s resolution. Your life doesn’t start at the beginning of the year. And that’s not what being part of Equinox is about. We go beyond what’s possible. We defy expectations. We are not moderation. We want it all, every day. And you deserve it all.”
Concluding, “We look forward to welcoming you to our Equinox community tomorrow,” Jess Smith called the tactic, “Super bold, super smart, strategically aligned with their brand.”
https://twitter.com/WarJessEagle/status/1609607397827399680
While there were many that agreed with the Twitter user on that take, Equinox’s campaign didn’t stop there. The fitness club went on to post a video to TikTok that featured a nearly empty gym that ended with one guy lifting weights and laughing with the caption, “When it’s January 1st, but you remember Equinox isn’t letting new members join today…”
The post included the message, “Take your resolutions somewhere else,” which led one user to suggest, “Y’all are trying the weirdest flexes today…”
Y’all are trying the weirdest flexes today… pic.twitter.com/W1KkHbrzyw
— Bonnie ♥ (@beforeits2late2) January 1, 2023
Of course, the luxury fitness club, which already doesn’t cater to a wide market with hefty monthly membership fees averaging around $200, was quickly slammed by the woke-set who knocked the failure at being inclusive. TikToker Nathan Tsujii said, “The gym does not belong to one person” and “Health is for all of us. Be more inclusive. Be better, Equinox.”
Others voiced their derision with the company for the “gimmick” while also expressing their view that it was on brand.
I’m an all access + @AskAmex platinum member, and I don’t want to support a gym that shames people for setting fitness goals during ANY month of the year— it can have a large public health impact for a gym to support their members even if 90% drop off after.
— Violeta J. Rodriguez, MS² (@vjrodriguez33) January 2, 2023
Didn’t realize a health club would be so vehemently against people trying to…checks notes…improve their health and well-being?
— Deborah Vance’s Soda Machine (@sean_fry8) January 2, 2023
So like… you don’t want any new members? When January is the biggest driver in new membership for gyms all year? pic.twitter.com/xRAWp1Ac4Q
— Erik :: they/them (@thecardsharp2) January 2, 2023
This is insufferable, but since insufferable is your brand . . . well done. I’m sure lots of self-loathing people chasing an empty feeling of superiority will find this campaign very cool.
— Summer Sandiego (@summerasana) January 2, 2023
“We’re better than you, and we know it” pic.twitter.com/TGFCawXtZu
— whomst amungus (@waaaaaaaaaaaat_) January 2, 2023
One user aware of the launch of the campaign in advance had commented that they had begun their membership on New Year’s Eve to circumvent the policy, leading Equinox to respond “Well that works too, I guess.”
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