Power balance scam doing the rounds

I didn’t. I moered first, asked questions later.

It’s very healthy to be sceptical. Especially of rusty pieces of chain laying in the corner.

Besides:

Valheru has become better at FlameStrike! (98%)

;D

lol - idd

I want you on my D&D team! :smiley:

Hi guys, new to the forum ;D

On a serious note though; someone at my work is peddling this shit and people are actually being duped into buying the plastic bracelets for “half price” ie. R200.

Very sticky situation as it really tends to rub people the wrong way when you tell them they’re gullible and they spent lots of money on complete BS. Even more difficult is confronting the seller who genuinely believes she’s helping people.

Amazing how the skeptical position towards alternative woo-woo is the marginal one in Pretoria.

You underestimate the purchasing power (and stupidity) of Moreleta Park huisvrou-dames. Anything to make themselves more attractive to the horticultural employee trimming the verge.

i bought one of those bands. and it works for me. my backache is a thing of the past.and my gym workout has improved drastically.
its funny how some people say some thing is crap. if they never tried it. or can prove its crap.u might say its all in Ur head.
maybe. but if i am thinking this band is healing me and that tricks my mind in healing me. so be it. then it is still doing its job
they say its a proven fact if you give some one a sweet that looks like a pill in a expensive pill holder. and tell them its extremely expensive
and good pills. they will use it and there headache will disappear.

Placebos should be dirt cheap. The Power-you-can’t-push-me-down-Bands aren’t.

I love this, “Hi everyone, I’m a HUGE sucker!”

its funny how some people say some thing is crap. if they never tried it. or can prove its crap.

That’s why the FSM gave us double blind tests. Yay! Check out

Power & Balance test put the the “REAL DOUBLE BLIND TEST”

But I’m guessing you’re gonna come back with “Well I dunno about that…” because you know, who believes proof anyway…

u might say its all in Ur head. maybe. but if i am thinking this band is healing me and that tricks my mind in healing me. so be it.

Still makes you a massive schmuck.

The “placebos work, so what’s so bad about them” argument is tired and full of flaws.

Out of the top of my head:

  • They cost (sometimes a lot of) money
  • They turn people away from evidence based treatment
  • They misinform and promote misinformation
  • The effect is unreliable

Unfortunately “The world wants to be deceived.”

I saw a video about this bracelet a while ago, about the angles and the placement of the feet, (before and after) that explains quite well whats happening. I can’t find it now but a friend of mine was carrying on about this last night. I would like to send her this video. Anybody knows what I am talking about and where to find it? The one above here still leave room for interpretation.

This scam is so old it has whiskers on it.

If I paid R200 for a piece of plastic I would also say that it is working or otherwise I would gasp shock have to admit that I have been ripped off. Because I can feed myself the bracelet is working.

The good news is that the price is coming down so that it seems that the sucker pool is running dry. The promoters are doing their bit to squeeze out the last cents from the gullible.

Very sticky situation as it really tends to rub people the wrong way when you tell them they're gullible and they spent lots of money on complete BS. Even more difficult is confronting the seller who genuinely believes she's helping people.

Tell your co-workers to wait until it is 75% off - these gadgets will get cheaper.

Anyone want to buy a piece of the true cross or one of the nails I have lotsa stock?

The standard silicone PowerBalance bracelet is presently selling at R495.00 although we have been approached to buy them in bulk (eight or more) at R300.00 each. IIRC, when first launched here in SA a few years ago, they were going at around R800.00 a pop.

'Luthon64

My friend plays underwater hockey, and one of these charlatans sold him one for R250. He’s got too much money, he says he bought it just because the guy was so persistent, but still. He bought it for R250. Me and another friend convinced him that it’s useless. Was quite surprised that my friend knew about the Aus Skeptics Applied Kineseology video.
Gotta start somewhere, friends and family is a good start.

In this weeks local paper there is a promotional article about this bracelet. Here is my letter to the paper. Can I send it in or do I open myself to a court case?

Observer 19 November P51. “Pro Balance at MB Sports.” “Bio Energetic Holograph Disc Technology”

What bull. Here is a totally ineffective and unproven product for sale to the general public. It uses science sounding words to fool people into thinking that it must be good. You may as well put an elastic band around your arm for all the good it is going to do. In every properly run double blind test this product failed to have any effect. A double blind test is where neither the tester nor the tested know whether it is the “real” thing being tested or a control. If Pro Balance or MB Sports believe in their product they can make a cool 1 Million dollars. That’s about R7 000 000 at the moment. All they have to do is provide proof of what they claim to the JREF ( www.randi.org ). If they don’t want the money they can donate it to a charity. If their product passes this test I will humbly apologize and pay for any damages. Will they do it? I very mush doubt it – they probably make more by fooling people, shame on MB Sports for selling and promoting this scam.

Ernst Marais

Send it, jut change mush to much.

Thanks. The spell check only check the spelling. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ve just come back from a cruise on the Sinfonia and saw many people wearing the bracelets.

I did some research and decided to go with medication, but I think I had an allergic reaction to them. My whole face went numb and my lips and the inside of my mouth had pins and needles! I was also completely full of BS. I didn’t have them the second day and was fine.

Interestingly enough, the cruise director was a big fan of James Randi and spoke about all the different scams out there, including the balance bracelets. He said they are imported from China at around 6 Rand each! The only ones I could source were retailing at R695 to R750! Don’t even think I fell for it :slight_smile:

It turns out I didn’t need the motion sickness tablets either, they have such nasty side effects! Proof that the invisible balance bracelet I was wearing really works!

Anybody want to buy some? Just deposit the money into my account and it will instantly appear on your wrist! Lightweight and undetectable - you won’t even know it’s there! A steal at R199.99 - act now and get a bracelet for your other arm free!

Regards,

Sentinel

Interestingly, on Saturday at a braai, a friend showed me his bracelet and told me it did miracles for his shoulder injury. He also did “the test” on me. Obviously his bias and the whiskeys I had would make this completely inconclusive, but subjectively it felt like it worked. :smiley:

I also remember another party trick where one lays on one’s back with arm outstretched. One can then resist pressure to push or pull the arm down. But when a cell phone is place on one’s chest, resistance crumbles. I think these are related?

I was going to look into it but never got around to doing so but now with the weekend’s experience and this thread I am more keen to read some more.

My 1337 google skills is letting me down though :-[

Anyone have a link to where the effect is explained?

ETA: CSI; Rubish

I of course found, these and other links and also watched the youtube vid where the Australians do the blind tests. I am trying to understand why it would work on me, who is very skeptical of this whole thing in the first pllace. Is the placebo effect that strong?

He also did "the test" on me.
Is this the test where you stand with arms in the back and they pull you? If so, the first time you don't know what to expect whereas the second time you do and your weight distribution is slightly different.

It is. But I insisted on doing it more than once… so I suspected around the third time… I also tried just holding something else in my hands, like keys. It didn’t have the same effect.

I think it is probably mostly confirmation bias on his side, more than placebo on mine… as in he wasn’t pulling as much as it felt like… Now that I am sober, I want to have another go :wink: