No, Really, This Fitness Shortcut Will Work...

Sophia Lear notes that Reebok's new campaign for their new "Easy Tone" shoes (if you haven't seen them, I don't know how to describe them -- platform runners?) includes a definitive example of assvertising. She also points us to an article that addresses a question I've wondered about since I first started seeing them in stores (and less egregiously sexist advertisements) -- do they work? The evidence for this is, apparently, very weak -- a company-funded study of 5 women, that (crucially for anything involving muscles buildup) doesn't test for long-range effects. And as Lear points out, this lack of evidence is rather important, given that the shoes seem to prevent women from engaging in many activities that we know improve fitness: "The shoes are designed only for walking, and because of the instability design, wearers are discouraged from running, jumping and engaging in other athletic activities while wearing them."

Seems like a pretty painless boycott to me...