>that surprises you? companies push promotions for their shoes all the time with contests and incentives.

Yes, because my soul is as pure as driven snow, and I have an innate trust in the general goodness of people.

Edit: And this is more than just salespeople pushing a promotion. They're getting very close to being almost completely untrained people doling out something very close to medical advice, e.g. "You pronate a little, so you need to fix it with this..."