Power Balance slammed by ACCC for misleading wristbands
- 22 December, 2010 17:03
- Comments 6
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According to a statement from the ACCC, misleading advertising claims have been withdrawn by the vendor after the regulatory body’s intervention.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”.
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.”
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.
Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.
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Comments
paleoflatus
What about naturopathy and a host of other similar scams that actually cause far more damage to gullible people?
Tom Croucher
Another nail in the coffin.
Richard Saunders
There are many more bands out there including HOTBAND sold in some pharmacies. Hope they are next. But what about the great scam of selling water and sugar at thousands of times their cost price or in other words Homeopathy?
Wendy Hill
I can't believe there are so many closed minded people out there.
Naturopathy is reason my husband isn't in bed sick all the time and acupuncture was the only thing that finally worked on an injury I had.
Everything in life isn't just black and white! There are areas we don't quite understand but they work!
SD
there are tradelmarks that has spent their money in research and got evaluation and certifications, with positive results. What has ACCC done, well nothing. Seems the big pharmas know what´s behind the product and are scare of stop selling killing pills!!!! Yes, naturophaty has been with us for thousands of years, chemicals only for a hundred year, or a bit more, now pills, synthetic medicine, is very profitable and what it does? Treat for couple of hours the pain, and kill your liver. Go ahead with all the chemical. Welcome to your suicide!!! At least the band might be the key of placebo, the key of self healing, but the big corps don´t want this!!!
Food for thought!!!!!
Keri
Ha ha another FAD bites the dust
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