Touted as the most revolutionary gadget since ever, the Power Balance silicone wristband is meant to improve strength, balance and flexibility by simply being worn on the wrist. A class action lawsuit has been filed against the makers for duping customers with false claims.
The Power Balance is endorsed by some of the biggest names in sports, such as Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and David Beckham, to name just a few, together with a string of A-listers from all areas of showbiz.
It claims it can
improve strength, balance and flexibility by coming with two hologram discs on each side, which tap into the body’s natural energy flow, boosting it accordingly.
The improvement is immediately noticeable, the makers say, asking $29,95 for it. It seems many customers were not convinced by its marvelous effects, joining forces to bring the makers to justice.
TMZ got a hold of the papers filed in court – and they suggest that customers believe they’ve been duped into buying Power Balance because there’s no scientific study to back up the claims it makes.
“The class action lawsuit, filed this week in L.A. County Superior Court, alleges consumers were duped into believing the hologram-embedded band was scientifically proven to enhance balance, flexibility and strength. There was just one small problem – there’s no hard proof to back those claims,” TMZ writes.
In other words, while the makers claimed the wristband could do all those wonderful things, they never really bothered to see if it actually could do them.
One reason for that could probably be the fact that they knew the claims were bogus, it is being said.
“In fact, the suit claims Power Balance honchos admitted they had ‘no credible scientific evidence that supported the representations’ – but continued to ‘mislead’ the public anyway... selling 3 million units in just three years,” TMZ writes.
“The lawsuit claims Power Balance needs to shell out more than $5,000,000 to make things right with consumers,” says the same e-zine.
As we also noted in our
review of Power Balance, there is no scientific fact behind the claims of the product, and this has been one of the strongest arguments used by skeptics against it.
There is also the question of how badly one wants the Power Balance to work and have those effects. That is to say, the placebo effect is the only thing guaranteed about it.
*Update [January 27, 2011]: Power Balance Australia has officially admitted claims of the Power Balance silicone wristband have no scientific backing, were misleading, which means product is a scam. Refunds will be made until June 30, 2011. More on this
here.
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