Power Balance

Power Balance is the original brand of hologram bracelets claimed by its manufacturers and vendors to 'use holographic technology' to 'resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body', and increase sporting ability. Numerous independent studies of the device found it to be no more effective than the placebo effect for enhancing athletic performance, and the manufacturer was forced by the ACCC to retract any previous claims in 2010. Power Balance is the original brand of hologram bracelets claimed by its manufacturers and vendors to 'use holographic technology' to 'resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body', and increase sporting ability. Numerous independent studies of the device found it to be no more effective than the placebo effect for enhancing athletic performance, and the manufacturer was forced by the ACCC to retract any previous claims in 2010. The product was originally promoted at trade shows in the beginning of 2006 utilizing applied kinesiology as its most effective sales tool. They then began selling the product in 2007 and had amassed countless celebrity endorsements many free and some paid they had became a trend among high school, collegiate and professional sports in 2008-2012 although bands are regularly sighted on athletes today, those 5 years were the biggest boom for Power Balance. Leading one journalist to say that 'a growing number of professional sportsmen and their attendants are starting to sound like New Age crystal healers.' Another journalist gave Power Balance the CNBC Sports Product of the Year in 2010. Power Balance Headquarters which was located in Laguna Niguel, California at the time, denied that they made any medical or scientific claims about their products, but after an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ruling, the Australian distributor of Power Balance was forced to recognize and retract any possible claims. The company had been the focus of significant criticism, particularly for false advertising. It has been described as 'like the tooth fairy' and a 'very successful marketing scam'. Although Dylan Evans, a lecturer in behavioral science at Cork University's School of Medicine and author of Placebo stated 'I was really impressed by the marketing. They have managed to get away without deceiving anyone in the sense of an overt lie. There are no claims on the packaging itself.'They don't make any reference at all to any health outcomes. They leave that as an inference that most people will draw' By the end of 2011 the company was reported to be on the edge of going out of business after allegedly having to settle a $57m lawsuit, in the course of which company executives acknowledged that their past claims to improve strength and balance were not backed by science. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to a multitude of lawsuits, but the brand has since been transferred to a new company, Power Balance Technologies and is still selling Power Balance bands and other items today. www.powerbalance.com Power Balance seems to have added to their product line as well using other more widely accepted sales tools for selling their products, Titanium and Ion producing powder in some of their products. Although they do not make any claims on the company's website they still seem to sell the original bands as well. In 2011, researchers from RMIT's School of Health Sciences reported the results of an independent, randomized and controlled trial with double blind design. They found no difference in balance between people using a holographic wristband and those wearing a placebo. On October 28, 2010 Olympic champion gymnast Dominique Dawes, working for Yahoo Weekend News and Independent Investigations Group (IIG), tested Power Balance bracelets for their claim that they improve balance, flexibility and strength. According to IIG investigator Dave Richards 'There was one 'legitimate' Power Balance bracelet, and 3 'sham' bracelets that had the hologram removed from them. The experiment was double-blinded, all bracelets were wrapped with tape so no one present knew which bracelet was real and which were fakes. Neither the participants nor the people recording the scores knew which bracelet was 'real' until after all participants had completed their runs and their scores were recorded.' The results indicated that there was no benefit for those that had a real holographic bracelet compared to those who had a placebo. In December 2009, an informal double-blind test was performed on the Australian television program Today Tonight, led by Richard Saunders from the Australian Skeptics. The results showed strong evidence that any effect of the holograms is too small to measure against the placebo effect. A study at the University of Wisconsin tested the effects of Power Balance bracelets on a group of NCAA athletes. One set of the athletes received the Power Balance bracelet, while the other received a placebo bracelet. The athletes were subjected to tests of flexibility, balance, and strength, after which, the athletes switched bracelets and performed the tests again. The study found that the Power Balance bracelet had no effect, compared to the placebo, on the performance of the athletes.