14 DAY TRIAL // Reebok is relaunching the EasyTone range of shoes, despite having to settle with the FTC after it was proved that its claims about how the shoes shape and tone the muscles were completely unfounded.
Backed by some of the biggest stars out there, EasyTone claims to work the muscles as you walk. In other words, because of the innovative sole, the shoe can guarantee you a proper workout without you having to run or do actual exercise.
Various studies proved that Reebok had been making such claims without any backing, and the FTC ordered it to pay no less than $25 million (€19 million) in damages.
Now, Reebok president Uli Becker says that they're not going to let said settlement prevent them from relaunching the EasyTone line, the Daily Mail informs.
“Toning was driven by the insight that women care about their looks, and that insight doesn’t change,” Becker explains, adding that the relaunch should be a go for 2012.
This was also the company's line when they announced the settlement: they insisted that agreeing to pay the money did not equal an admission of guilt or of any wrongdoing on their part.
In other words, they wanted the whole case to go away but that did not mean they admitted to lying in their ads for the sport shoe.
“Settling does not mean we agree with the FTC's allegations; we do not,” Reebok said back then.
“We have received overwhelmingly enthusiastic feedback from thousands of EasyTone customers, and we remain committed to the further development of our EasyTone line of products,” the company further added.
Adverts for the EasyTone line claimed that using the shoe regularly, even for simple walks would “result in 28 percent more strength and tone in the buttock muscles than traditional walking shoes and 11 percent more in the hamstring and calf muscles.”
With the settlement with the FTC, Reebok pulled all ads making these claims. It's expected to come up with a new approach for the relaunch of the line.