Reebok Relaunching EasyTone Shoes After Settling FTC Suit

Reebok got itself into a heap of trouble with the Federal Trade Commission when it put out an ad campaign that claimed that the design of its EasyTone and RunTone shoes help give anyone who wears them better muscle tone than anyone who wears other shoes.

The company had such noted muscle-tone experts as Kim Kardashian spreading the news of its effects. Back in 2009, the kontroversial starlet blogged her love for the product, the Daily Mail reports. 

“You guys wouldn’t believe it, these shoes have a ball (kind of like that big balance ball you use to do sit ups on) on the bottom of the shoes!” Kardashian wrote. “So basically it works your leg and butt muscles as you simply walk!”

Back in September, the shoemaker agreed to pay the FTC $25 million to help settle the matter, but that didn’t mean Reebok didn’t think its shoe was doing the muscle-toning job. “Settling does not mean we agree with the FTC's allegations; we do not,” the company said in a statement, the Mail reports. “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.”

Now, Reebok has announced that it will re-introduce the shoes to the marketplace and continue developing them, the Mail adds.

Since the toning market is 85 percent made up of women, that is likely where Reebok’s advertisements will continue to be aimed. “Toning was driven by the insight that women care about their looks, and that insight doesn’t change,” said Reebok president Uli Becker, the Mail reports.

One suspects that Reebok won’t likely restart its “Make Your Boobs Jealous” campaign that raised the hackles of feminist consumers everywhere.