An example of a legal issue relating to false advertising is one in which the shoemaker New Balance was sued for the false advertising over the claims that the toning shoes made by the company could lead to a reduction in weight. According to the advertisement, those who wore the shoes would have an increased calorie burn out and would experience an increase in the rate of muscle activation leading to loss of weight (Alice, 2012). According to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the court case termed the advertising performed by the company to be deceptive and misleading to the customers. In addition, the plaintiffs made the observations that wearing the shoes did not lead to any form of additional activation of the gluteus, hamstring, or calf muscles and did not result in the burning of additional calories in the body of the customer. Further, a legal issue also arose due to the fact that the company made an act of omission by failing to acknowledge that wearing the shoes could, in fact, lead to injury, as established by scientists who examined the shoes.
The ethical issues faced by the New Balance over the claims that its toning shoes actually resulted in a reduction of weight among the customers include misleading claims and manipulative advertising. The claims made by the company were misleading to the customers who did not realize the expected results as promised by the company from wearing the toning shoes. Another ethical issue that arises in the case is the use of manipulative advertising to influence the decision-making process of the customer (Bonsu, 2020). All the legal and ethical issues that arise are contrary to the Lanham Act, which allows civil lawsuits to take place against companies and businesses involved in false advertising, which give a misrepresentation of the characteristics, qualities, and nature of the actual product.
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References
Alice. (2012, August 29). New balance pays fat settlement to people its shoes did not slim . HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-balance-toning-shoe-settlement_n_1839537
Bonsu, S. (2020). Deceptive Advertising: A Corporate Social Responsibility Perspective. International Journal of Health and Economic Development , 6 (2), 1-15.
