"Power Balance" Wristbands: Rubber Bands with a Big Marketing Budget

by Anne Landman — January 13, 2011 - 2:35pm
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PowerBalance WristbandsPower Balance of Orange County, California makes rubber bracelets with a holographic inset that "are designed to work with your body's natural energy field" to increase strength, balance and flexibility. The bands sell on Amazon.com for anywhere from $4.25 to $30.00. The company has poured tens of millions of dollars into a marketing campaign that features sports heroes and athletes like Shaquille O'Neil promoting the product. But on December 22, 2010, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ruled that claims that the bracelets improve strength, balance and flexibility "were not supported by any credible scientific evidence," and made Power Balance admit that it engaged in "misleading and deceptive conduct in breach of 2.52 of the Trade Practices Act of 1974." The Commission told Power Balance to stop making bogus claims about the product, refund the purchase price of the wrist band to people who feel they were misled, publish a corrective advertisement to keep consumers from being misled in the future and remove the words "performance technology" from the brand. The Australian ruling isn't valid in other countries, however.

Main Source: 
BizCommunity.com, January 11, 2011

Comments

For $4.25 They Don't Hurt People - Go After A Truly Harmful Co

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 21, 2011 - 12:10am.

This is a ridiculous "consumer advocacy" issue. There are all kinds of charm shops and the like that sell bracelets and amulets and little stones that "carry healing energy." They certainly don't harm people and it's an insubstantial sum of money. At least people have found a way to make a living - with "magicial jewelry" - if the consumer parks their brain on this subject, I see this has comparable to paying a guy on a street corner for a tarot card reading. What about religious crosses, for that matter? Are people who manufacture Christian crosses bilking the consumer?

So What? Go after companies who are really doing harm. How about health insurance companies? Big oil and what they're selling us? About 'bout the magical belief that we should be paying 500,000. for decent housing?

You don't get it.

Submitted by Mutternich on January 23, 2011 - 4:50pm.

This isn't just a street-corner fortune teller, and the sums of money aren't "insubstantial":

"The company has poured tens of millions of dollars into a marketing campaign that features sports heroes and athletes like Shaquille O'Neil promoting the product."

Nonetheless, they aren't being required to stop selling it -- just stop making unsubstantiated claims about it. Check amazon.com; it's there without the claims.

"Go after companies who are really doing harm. How about health insurance companies? Big oil and what they're selling us?"

They have, in case you hadn't noticed.

You're the one who doesn't get it ..

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 14, 2011 - 12:42am.

"Nonetheless, they aren't being required to stop selling it -- just stop making unsubstantiated claims about it. Check amazon.com; it's there without the claims."

Just because amazon has a certain standard of selling doesn't mean it should be imposed by law on everyone else. There are plenty of products and books on the American market that make all kinds of unsubstantiated claims as well. Take the so-called "Holy Bible" for example. That's the biggest bunch of unsubstantiated claims in history, along with the sale of products that believe are Holy and will protect them, along with a whole range of other nonsense.

I see no difference between wearing a crucifix or a bracelet promoted by Shaquille O'Neill. I think you're the one who doesn't get it. Do you happen to feel offended if someone thinks their bracelet is as credible as your crucifix?

"They have, in case you hadn't noticed."

I don't know who "they" is in your sentence, but as far as I"m concerned, no one is doing nearly the job they should in going after the real crooks.

I see no difference between

Submitted by Mutternich on February 14, 2011 - 3:25pm.

I see no difference between wearing a crucifix or a bracelet promoted by Shaquille O'Neill.

It's not wearing either a crucifix or an "energy balancing" bracelet; it's SELLING either one with an unsubstantiated claim of a particular physical benefit.

Besides, lots of people buy Bibles and crucifixes without any such expectation. So what's the problem, won't those bracelets make any money for anyone without those phony claims?

And just because it's not possible to chase down every such scam being run, that's not a reason not to go after the ones you can, especially if they're doing business in the millions of dollars.

...but as far as I'm concerned, no one is doing nearly the job they should in going after the real crooks.

Then why don't you yourself do something along those lines instead of working so hard to defend this scam? And don't bother telling me you have; you've already gotten off to too good a start on the wrong foot.

Finishing your argument off completely ...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 15, 2011 - 10:16pm.

I have since (also) checked your reference to amazon and found out that you aren't even telling the truth. Amazon DOES promote them as a magical product.

PLUS, the amazon reference shows that people do buy this product without any such understanding, as there are lots and lots of buyer comments asserting that they just like the bracelet as fashion. Backing up what I said in my earlier post.

Gone hiding, haven't you, without anything left in your argument. It's silly and unsubstantial. You're probably one of the claimants in this ridiculous deep pocket law suit: you bought a bracelet for 4.95 and are now sueing the athletes just as you planned from the beginning of YOUR scam.

'Gone hiding, haven't you...'

Submitted by Mutternich on February 16, 2011 - 2:03pm.

Sorry, I'm still here.

And it wasn't strictly speaking a reference; I just said "Check Amazon."

But here's a reference:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=powere+balance+bracelet&x=0&y=0

The one claim shown on that page as of right now -- "Performance Tech Designed To Work With Your Energy Field" -- is in a sponsored link to www.PowerBalance.com. In case you don't know what a sponsored link is, Amazon has thoughtfully provide a "What's This?" link to an explanation of the term.

Yes, Amazon gets revenue from sponsored links -- tsk-tsk, Amazon, for this one -- but it's not Amazon that's promoting them as magical products.

You're probably one of the claimants in this ridiculous deep pocket law suit: you bought a bracelet for 4.95 and are now sueing the athletes just as you planned from the beginning of YOUR scam."

Funny, neither this PRWatch item nor the Australian source it derived from --

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/12/55645.html

-- makes any mention of a lawsuit. Are you by any chance having a PR senior moment?

If there were a lawsuit, you'd have no more proof of my being a claimant than I have of your being, say, a paid shill for those deep pockets suckering shallow pockets. But if such a suit is planned or in progress, I have no other interest in it than hoping it teaches those particular deep pockets a memorable lesson.

Talk about dishonest

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 16, 2011 - 11:13pm.

"IF there were a lawsuit"

What a FBS artist you are. It's all over the internet on a google, just like Ouija Boards.

Poor, poor baby. You bought a 4.95 bracelet and it didn't heal you.

By gosh, you're right, there is a lawsuit!

Submitted by Mutternich on February 17, 2011 - 1:06pm.

Made my morning to hear it. :-)

I'm really not in on it, though; I don't waste my money on crap like power bracelets in the first place.

See, one reason there's a market for lawsuits like this one in this country is that our "take everything you have" government lacks the initiative and the guts to go after big-money scammers on it own. Australia seems to do a bit better in that regard, even if the penalty handed down in the Power Balance case was just a slap on the wrist.

...go try locking everyone up selling a fortune cookie."

Bad analogy. Fortune cookies come with the meal and no one takes them seriously anyway. The Power Balance pitch, however, is deliberately crafted to mislead and deceive and part credulous people from their money.

There's no reason to sell the bracelet with a pitch like that one -- the biggest steaming pile of crap I've ever seen, BTW -- if the sellers don't expect to sell more bracelets and make more money with it than they would without it. So it really doesn't matter how many people bought a bracelet only because they think it looks cool; the ones who were influenced by that pitch were SCAMMED. As you just admitted when you said,

Poor, poor baby. You bought a 4.95 bracelet and it didn't heal you."

Never give a sucker an even break, in other words. I hope y-- ...excuse me, THOSE guys...I hope they get taken to the cleaners.

Does the buyer "truly" believe .... doesn't wash

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 15, 2011 - 12:12am.

"Besides, lots of people buy Bibles and crucifixes without any such expectation"

Lots of people buy those bracelets, I'm sure, without any such expectation either. It's just hot fashion because Shaquille O'Neill is hawking it and everyone on the block has one and hey, let me have that color because it matches my shoes or my hat.

People buy Bibles and crucifixes for the same mass appeal mentality whether they "truly" believe or not.

So there goes that argument of yours too.

Lots of people buy those

Submitted by Mutternich on February 16, 2011 - 9:27am.

Lots of people buy those bracelets, I'm sure, without any such expectation either. It's just hot fashion because Shaquille O'Neill is hawking it and everyone on the block has one..."

Then there should be no problem NOT making bogus health claims to sell the product.

I'm not defending scamming..."

Well...in the sense that "Everybody does it, why don't you go pick on someone else?" is a p***-poor defense...hey, you're right! :-)