Sorry, everyone. Reebok lied to you. But it’s literally going to pay for its fabricating ways, and you could benefit. The sportswear brand has been fined a whopping $350,000 in Australia for making false claims and statements about its EasyTone shoe range, which it said would boost muscle tone of thighs, calves and your butt more than normal sneakers.
Even though EasyTone shoes have been available in Australia since December 2009, the Federal Court has just now ruled that the representations made on shoe boxes, swing tags, information cards and in-store promotional material were misleading, breached three sections of Australian Consumer Law, and that Reebok had no reasonable grounds to make such claims.
As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, Reebok claimed “balance pods built-in under the heel” and “balance ball-inspired technology with moving air” in EasyTone shoes would increase “muscle activation” of the butt area by 28 per cent and of thighs and calves by 11 per cent, but did so without any scientific evidence to back this promise.
To make matters worse, Reebok Australia pretty much saw the whole thing coming. In September 2011 Reebok US paid $25 million after the Federal Trade Commission claimed the company was misleading customers about the better legs promise. Reebok Australia was fully aware of the US settlement, but still supplied 16,448 EasyTone shoes inside misrepresented boxes between September 2011 right through to May 2012.
Reebok will not go unpunished for suggesting you’ll be on your way to a better behind by purchasing its EasyTones. An agreement reached with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will see Reebok refund $35 to customers who bought a pair of EasyTone shoes from September 2011 to February 2013, set up a hotline, publish corrective notices, and start a compliance program.
Poor Miranda Kerr was also misled, and you can watch her promote the deceitful brand below:
