Power Balance Band Are A Scam
These bands and others like them are just a little piece of plastic with a little holographic picture slipped into it. They do nothing and are a complete and total scam.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions (ACCC) has slammed sports technology company, Power Balance Australia, over its wristbands that claim to provide wearers with improved performance.
All users who purchased the wristbands can now get a refund if they feel they’ve been misled.
According to a statement from the ACCC, misleading advertising claims have been withdrawn by the vendor after the regulatory body’s intervention. The bands supposedly provided better balance, strength and flexibility by working with the body’s “natural energy field”.
When you hear words like energy and balance you should already be worried.
The company hired celebrities and sports stars to use and promote the device in sporting stores and over the Internet.
“Power Balance has admitted that there is no credible scientific basis for the claims and therefore no reasonable grounds for making representations about the benefits of the product,” it said in the statement. “Its conduct may have contravened the misleading and deceptive conduction section of the Trade Practices Act 1974.”
Now if only we could get things like this to happen in the US.
The vendor has given the ACCC court-enforceable that any claims made in advertisements will be tested by court-enforceable undertakings from independent testing bodies using double-blind tests.
Corrective advertising will now be published and the words “performance technology” will now be removed from the wristband.
“Consumers should be wary of other similar products on the market that make unsubstantiated claims, when they may be no more beneficial than a rubber band,” ACCC chairman, Graeme Samuel, said.
The moves came after the ACCC approached Power Balance about the issue. It was not broached in court.
They are selling something similar at Wal-Mart now:
http://fayfreethinkers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=22988#p22988
$20.
It does however have the ability to test a person’s level of discernment or critical thinking skills. If you bought one, you do don’t have any.
A class action was filed yesterday in Southern California against Power Balance… alleging unfair trade practices and false advertising (go see http://www.powerbalanceclassaction.com).