How Could You Not See It Coming

I remember what I said to a friend at work when I first saw Power Balance Bands (or whatever they're called) for sale. I thought there must have been a marketing meeting where everyone had a bet. The person who could sell the cheapest, crappiest item for the most money would win.

Seriously, I couldn't think of another reason they would come up with the idea.

The most vehement anti-power band campaigner in our area has been my twelve year-old son. How does that make you feel, Shaquille O'Neal?

In my search for guitar parts from across the world, I had found the exact items available from the Chinese manufacturer for 15c a unit. Yes, these were the same items being sold for $60 in Aussie sport stores. The total amount of money made on this rort must have been obscene.

For a while, I considered buying 10,000 of them and selling them for $10 each. No-one would believe it would work, though. It just wouldn't be expensive enough to work.

I know a number of guys who bought the bands. Some believed they worked, some decided to eat the loss and pretend they never saw the damn things. The ones who believed they worked referred to the "tests" that the makers published with the bands and that were touted as proof they worked.

The results of the tests are easily explained by two things. One, placebo effect and two, practice. More so practice, I suspect. I never met anyone who did the tests with the Power Band first. The tests seem to always be done without it first. Have you ever done a complex task worse the second time you did it?

No, would be the answer in most cases. You could wrap yourself in toilet paper and do the tests. You'll still do better the second time. That'd make toilet paper prices go up, as well.

So, the ACCC have declared the bands a rort and told the maker to refund everyone who bought them.

Prepare for phase two of the rort, where athletes and celebrities claim to have been duped like everyone else into purchasing the bands - rather than having been paid to participate in the deceit.