Power Balance bands

[SportsJunky]

ACE Study Reveals Power Balance Bracelet to be Ineffective

[Diverce]

I have one, got it at the stampede, figured what the hell. Does it work, I don't know, maybe it does maybe it doesn't. I do know that as an athlete anything to calm the mind is good in my books. And I'm speaking directly from an athletic perspective, I wear it when I golf, and also when I play ball, and in my mind I believe it helps stabilize me. If it does or doesn't that's not really my concern. But, by believing it does it's one less thing I need to think about and I can just play. It's a trigger, it's something that puts me in the zone.

And with athletes that wear these bracelets, it's the same thing, as long as they believe it works, and they perform better because of it then good on them. Anything to help with confidence is great. Michael Jordan wore his college shorts and a new pair of shoes for every game because it calmed his mind and he felt that he performed better because of it. And for some, wearing the bracelet has the same effect.

With people, if they believe it helps them, and they feel better because they wear a bracelet. Who cares, let them be

[photon]

There's two perspectives to this.

First is from the perspective of the athlete or whoever.. The mind's involvement in performance or feeling of well being is obvious (since it's the mind that all this stuff goes on in), and sport has a long history of everything from visualization (I use visualization myself sometimes) to superstition. I don't think anyone is proposing to disallow someone whatever reasonable or crazy things they want to do to improve their lives.

The other perspective though is from the vendor and from society in general.

I don't think society should limit someone from selling something that does nothing if they can get away with it (pet rocks!).

But the question is should society limit someone from selling something that does nothing but CLAIM that it does something (or use weasel words like "may" to try and make claims without actually being held to those claims)?

Obviously it should, I don't think anyone would agree that people should be allowed to sell boxes of rocks as laptops and have a renovation company that takes your money but doesn't actually do the work.

Is it ethical to let someone sell placebos without them actually being identified as such?

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by troutman

http://skepticbros.com/placebo-bands/

Placebo Bands are now available in our not for profit store http://skepticbros.com/store/. Here are some tips, tricks and the invaluable FAQ for the Placebo Band!

I must have one. The mocking potential is huge!

[troutman]

Power Balance Files for Bankruptcy
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/i...or-bankruptcy/

All of this is encouraging – the skeptical community was able to expose the unscientific and implausible claims of a slick marketing campaign, and within a short period of time the company went from naming a sports arena to bankruptcy.

But it is also disheartening because this was just one round (although successful) in an endless game of whack-a-mole. There are already other products on the market that essentially are making the same claims as Power Balance. In centuries past medicine men sold questionable magnetic products with similar claims. More recently we have had the Q-ray bracelet, and now there are many products lining up to take Power Balance’s place. You can buy Energy Armor, with the power of negative ions.

[Thor]

Thats so crazy how much money they made, if they are paying 57 million dollars back to customers for selling a .50c band with a hologram...

I'm in the wrong business, quakery sells, big placebo is the way to go!

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Thor

Thats so crazy how much money they made, if they are paying 57 million dollars back to customers for selling a .50c band with a hologram...

I'm in the wrong business, quakery sells, big placebo is the way to go!

Or...


"If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be start his own religion." - L. Ron Hubbard 1978

[Buff]

I got one of these for Christmas. Having already read this thread I was skeptical about it but I decided to try it out anyway. Do I believe that this holograph has special powers to make me have better balance and be stronger and more focused? No, I think it is all placebo effect.

With that said, the placebo effect is all that I needed. I'd been battling through confidence issues when I play hockey over the past year and a half. A bunch of younger, more athletic guys joined up in our weekly game of shinny and I felt old, slow and no longer any good. I contemplated quitting. The bracelet was just something that helped me snap out of my negative thinking. The bracelet itself didn't do what the sellers claim on their websites. The bracelet helped me to will myself to doing better. It was more luck than anything. If I went out and had a bad game that bracelet would have hit the garbage. I had a good game because I was aware that something was going to be different, and I was thinking in a positive manner and I had more pep in my step, I had more confidence that I was going to play better, and the confidence is what helped me play better. The bracelet was just a prop to help me change my focus.

You could do the same thing by taking a piece of athletic tape and telling people to place it vertically on their left butt cheek and they'll become better athletes. It's just a simple trick to make you force your mind into thinking more positively. Your ability to do something is mind over matter and sometimes you tell yourself that you're not good enough, your mind won't let you be good enough and you get stuck in a rut of negativity. Sometimes it takes something simple as a lie to help you change your thinking to get out of that rut.

[Kybosh]

Buff, I would like to buy your magic athletic tape.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

Buff, I would like to buy your magic athletic tape.

You'll have to apply it yourself.


... wait, are you a hot female? If so, I can show you how to get it on.

[troutman]

The placebo effect should not work if you know the treatment is ineffective. You did it yourself.

[Thor]

Just use it as a #### ring.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by troutman

The placebo effect should not work if you know the treatment is ineffective. You did it yourself.

Not necessarily true Trout, my undergrad was in psychology and there has been a lot of research into the placebo effect that has found that a placebo can be effective even when the subject is aware there is no real 'medicine'.

Here is a relatively recent article discussing this, but this research has been ongoing for a long time.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec...ffect-20101223

It doesn't change my opinion about this kind of marketing because they're still lying to people about where some effect may be coming from.

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by Buff

You'll have to apply it yourself.


... wait, are you a hot female? If so, I can show you how to get it on.

I'm not a hot female. Is that how I come off on this board? I'll need to rebrand my internet image if that's the case.

[Knut]

Thats Why i keep my mouth shut when it my Wife watches the Secret. If she feels that it helps her, that is fine. It will only piss her off if i start making fun of the good old Reverend Dr. Michael Beckwith. He must be good if he is a reverend and a Doctor.

Sometimes it is better to just let people have their placebo and keep your mouth shut.

We all have Placebo's that we use from time to time. That new suit you have makes you feel more confident etc.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

I'm not a hot female. Is that how I come off on this board? I'll need to rebrand my internet image if that's the case.

I always think of you as a sad little puppy.

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I always think of you as a sad little puppy.

My dog was about 6 months old in that picture. It's a reminder what can happen when you put the dog outside and then have that oh sh*t moment where you haven't seen them for an hour and they're up to no good. I was watering my backyard and the dog thought it would be fun to dig into a forming mud puddle beside the house. Stupid dog.