Give feedback to these two posts

post 1

In 2008 Reebok released a range of EasyTone footwear. Reebok claimed toned and strengthened muscles as the user walked or ran. The claims were that their shoes had been proven to lead to 28% more strength and tone in the buttock muscles, 11% more strength and tone in the hamstring muscles, and 11% more strength and tone in the calf muscles than regular walking shoes. There was no evidence at all to support these claims, and the FTC issued Reebok with a $25 million fine. In this instance, the publication Ad Age calculated the real costs as being closer to $80 million. Reebok could have easily avoided this by just being honest and having evidence for this claim. Given that they clearly did not have the evidence to back this claim it is just common sense to not use this information as an advertising point, but Reebok must have thought they would get away with this false information.

post 2

The ethical lapse that came to mind right away was the scandal behind Volkswagen in the year 2015. In a nutshell, the German car company did not only confess to cheating U.S. automotive regulations but created technology that avoided being caught. Volkswagen in 2015 had confessed that they had been, "cheating emissions tests on 11 million vehicles across the globe" (Toebe 2020). The ethical lapse has costed the company their reputation and costed them at least $35 billion in international penalties.

It doesn't end there. The way Volkswagen has taken responsibility is also questionable from the CEO to the engineers. Everyone placing blame on everyone else. Top executives tried to exonerate themselves from the scandal, but it was already too late. Engineers would also tell their side of the story and say that they received word to create the technology from the executives and if questioned the decision they would be replaced.

I think the only way to avoid this misstep is to be realistic with the shareholders involved with the decision making about what the expectations for the car company are. It seems like VW was cutting corners in order to create revenue and it ended up biting them in the rear. I understand there are expectations but lying, deceiving etc. only costed VW more in the end than they made.