It appears that some dubious marketing tools are being employed in the sale of the Power Balance wrist band.
First is the use of celebrity endorsement. This practice is unfortunately all too common. Celebrities don’t appear to be any better at critical thinking than your average Joe (or Jo) in the street.
The second dubious practice is the use of physical tests that aren’t objective. The method of pressing down on someone’s arm to test muscle strength can easily be manipulated (either deliberately or mistakenly) by the person doing the pressing. This methodology has been around for quite some time and is known as “Applied Kinesiology”. This is rather difficult to describe in writing. Fortunately Richard Saunders has put together an excellent video that shows you everything you need to know.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Piu75P8sxTo]
Now, check out this uncritical video review of the Power Balance wrist band. In this video a representative of Power Balance gets plenty of opportunity to speak and demonstrate the product.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMDE2FIK2X4]
Then another short video from Richard Saunders:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9BMMOu_Jsg]
James Randi, as usual, is way ahead of his time:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_MzP2MZaOo]
Good grief! Rat poison is almost as deadly to people as it is to rats. I can’t believe the Kineisiologist said that.
You’d think everyone would know by now the arm test routine isn’t an objective test. Weight lifters and scientists know that the best method of testing muscle strength is to lift weights that are close to your limit of being able to actually lift and count how many times you can do it until you’re simply unable due to muscle exhaustion.
If the people behind the Power Balance wrist band think I’ve been overly critical I welcome your comment below. You’re also welcome to write a more lengthy reply which I can post here.
Mal
Good to see someone else taking on this rubbish. I had a couple of rants on my blog that ended up with lots of hits (hopefully I stopped some people from buying the bloody things).
http://nathan-lee.com/blog/2010/07/18/fake-powerband-scam-power-balance-is-snake-oil-in-bracelet-form/
How to spot a fake one:
http://nathan-lee.com/blog/2010/07/21/how-to-spot-a-fake-power-balance-bracelet/
It really makes me mad to think just how much money these scammers are making out of these things. Every one they sell they make a stack of money that should be spent on real products. e.g. buy some joggers or exercise equipment would be money well spent, money on a piece of magic plastic is not.
Power Balance Bracelet is enjoyed by millions of people worldwide who report having experienced excellent balance, strength and flexibility when wearing the bracelet. We specialize in Power Balance Wristband for several years with good quality and competitive price. You can save money especially because [This comment has been edited by the site administrator, links removed and blatant advertisement removed]
Radio sports station SEN in Melbourne are using their presenters to promote these kids toys (power bands) at the moment,i have sent a couple of emails asking for the evidence that these work, but alas they never reply to their audience, I do listen to their station but these adverts are driving me mad, they give the power bands away as prizes for their callers to the station as well.
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Come on Power Balance pro people. All we’ve had so far; badly written attempts to get free advertising and the populist argument i.e. “millions of people”. Where is the evidence that it works?
I noticed you got spam about powerbalance.. Get askimet with “Conditional CAPTCHA for WordPress” seems to get ’em all..
Sure sign of a dodgy product if you end up inundated by spam.. 🙂
We have Askimet, but it didn’t block the posts from “powerbalanceguy” and “Frank” as spam. Powerbalance are entitled to argue their case, (whether by comment or by submitted article). IMHO those two comments helped make the point – they don’t really have a case.
[Product name removed, links removed, I’ll leave the claims for the benefit of readers : Admin]
is a genuine Complimentary Health product and the key elements of our product are as follows:
• XXXXX Award Winning Bracelets and Necklaces use patented Magnetic technology and powerful Ionising materials, which emit between 50 to 100 times greater ionisation than other similar products.
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Our products should not be mistaken for counterfeit, imitation or health products guaranteeing to instantaneously improve health, power/strength, flexibility and balance.
[Please read our comment policy, any more adds sent to this post will be deleted : Admin]
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