Scam-A-Rama! Power Balance Admits Hologram Wristbands Are a Scam, Not Magic — Kinda Like Global Warming
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 4, 2011
Scam-A-Rama: This hologram PowerBalance wristband costs $29.99, not including taxes and shipping/handling, and does absolutely NOTHING
If only all scammers could be publicly humiliated as the Power Balance company has been for its skeezy, greedy attempts to bilk and milk the public by using junk science, bogus claims, and misleading language to fleece them with a “magic” plastic wristband. A wristband that probably costs less than a dime to mass manufacture and retails from anywhere between $30 and $60 — and which does NOTHING that the unscrupulous company has claimed it will do.
I repeat: “bilk and milk the public by using junk science, bogus claims, and misleading language to fleece them” — just like global warming claims.
Global warming hoaxers should top that list of scammers, liars, charlatans, and snake oil salesmen — and then be thrown in prison for a really long time.
Yeah, that includes YOU, Big Kahuna Quackster Al Gore.
As a child, I learned from my dad that if something sounds just too good to be true, it’s probably not true. Amen to that, Dad. And never underestimate the power of the placebo.
As was reported by Gizmodo, PowerBalance Admits Their Wristbands Are a Scam:
I don’t think this would surprise anyone, but PowerBalance—manufacturers of plastic wristbands with hologram stickers on it—have admitted that there’s “no credible scientific evidence that supports [their] claims and therefore [they] engaged in misleading conduct.” Here’s their statement:
In our advertising we stated that Power Balance wristbands improved your strength, balance and flexibility.
We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.
If you feel you have been misled by our promotions, we wish to unreservedly apologise and offer a full refund.
They had to publish that in Australian media. The company has been under attack by consumer associations all over Europe because of their bogus claims and pseudo-scientific mumbojumbo, but this seems to be the first time in which a regulatory authority has made them admit that their claims are a simply a fraud.
The whole PowerBalance and similar magic wristbands swindle reminds me of the old magnetic wristbands my grandma used to wear in the 80s. Those were able to cure anything, from rheumatism to diabetes and, like this modern powertrickery, they made people feel better because the metal vibrated in the same frequency as the planet does, whatever that means.
Of course, these pseudo-scientific amulets have been made and distributed since the beginning of civilization. From magic stones to sanctified pendants made of holy chicken bones, charlatans have been devising miraculous devices to take advantage of often desperate people. These are just fancier versions of those, used by a new generation of gullible people. But that doesn’t mean the governments should stay still and not do anything. Like in Australia, the US and the European Union should smash all these companies and prohibit their misleading commercials.
The offer for the full refund expires in June 2011 — click here to read the full Power Balance press statement on its fraudulent marketing claims. Are these scumbag millionaire con artists still in business?
From Australia’s The Age, ‘Power’ wristbands might be the biggest scam:
If A $60 ”magic” wristband really did give Tigers star Jack Riewoldt the power to kick 10 goals last Sunday, then the Socceroos need a supply couriered to Durban ASAP.
If the band did nothing but use up 20 centimetres of medical tape to secure it to Riewoldt’s wrist, then he and hundreds of other sports stars around the world have fallen for a very successful marketing scam.
The ubiquitous Power Balance band – which claims to use ”holographic technology” to send energy flowing through the body – has become a talisman for some of the world’s top sportsmen, including US basketballer Shaquille O’Neal and Real Madrid soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as dozens of Australian AFL and NRL players.
Advertisement: Story continues belowThe three-millimetre-thick silicone band, which is embedded with two hologram discs, is also gracing the slender wrist of champion Melbourne jockey Damien Oliver.
However, it’s not just sports stars who are accessorising with the bands. Actor Russell Crowe was openly wearing one when he visited Marysville three weeks ago to discuss a building project for the bushfire-stricken town.
Power Balance says the holograms on either side of the wrist react with the body’s energy flow and tune its frequency to the ideal 7.83 hertz required to power the body.
The Australian Medical Association, however, yesterday dismissed this alleged benefit as ”biologically implausible” and suggested the advertising regulator should investigate the claim.
Power Balance’s Tom O’Dowd says if the bands – which are said to increase an athlete’s core strength and power by up to 500 per cent – didn’t work, people wouldn’t wear them.
Mr O’Dowd said about half the players in the AFL and the NRL now use them, but spokesmen for both codes could not confirm this.
More scammy news about another bogus, junk science claim with the iRenew bracelet.
Mahalo News: iRenew Bracelet Reviews
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