The 'Scam’ That Tricked Millions of Athletes

The placebo effect is so cool. It's wild how a fake magic bracelet was able to help people manage pain better than real medicine could. So many chronic conditions have a psychosomatic element that you could actually make a pretty strong argument for the use of placebo treatments in Dr surgeries.

It’s crazy because I actually hit my first and second ever home run after begging my dad to get me one. He got one for himself after the game 😂

I remember my whole team getting these and we still were trash 😂

It's amazing that the people who bought these managed to get a lawyer and sue the companies. I wouldn't have bet that they had the capacity for that.

I remember wearing Phitin and it gave me a ton of confidence. I had my best year ever, and I swore by them. When they were exposed for being fake and I couldn’t wear it the next year, I went on a huge slump. The Placebo Effect is crazy.

Someone did that balance test on me with the bracelet in a mall once. The reason it "works" is because the second time they try to throw you off balance, you already expect it so your brain anticipates it and makes sure you don't fall over. Had nothing to do with the bracelet.

dang you brought back a memory i completely forgot about. this was around late elementary school for me and i remember everyone who played sports was obsessed with them

Y’all got space jammed..Mj..“it’s just water”😂😂

Crazy having lived through this and remembering how this took root. One day the baseball kids at school were begging their parents to get them one. My mom got me one for Christmas that year and I wore it every day. Within the month damn near every student and teacher at school had one. Then like that, they were gone the next year. Haven’t thought about them since until today, thanks for making this video

This would all be crazy if baseball really did exist

This video unlocked a deep memory for me. I remember people wearing these bands growing up - and I always thought it was pretty strange how everyone seemed to swear by them. The more you know

these are my favorite videos on youtube. those products that you just about forgot about but at one point in time gripped the world by storm lol

Imagine your trainer tells you “Hey you know your ankle’s hurting, how about I do this new surgery I came up with on you in our locker room?” and you actually say yes and the team okays it. Insanity.

As a 90s kid, the go to scam jewelry for my generation was mood rings. Genuinely had us thinking a cheap ring from a flea market could read our minds just because it changed from red to blue 😂

In 2010 I used to have a job at a mall kiosk selling a knock off version of these. Everyone selling it knew it was bs. We also did a strength, flexibility, and balance test/demonstration on people to sell them on the idea that it worked. The test/demonstration we did was a little different from the one in the video but the idea was the same. Its ceazy how many people fell for it, buying 5 or 6 of them at $25 a pop for the whole family. I had friends who believed it worked, so to prove them it doesnt, i would do the tests on them with a regual rubber band or scrunchy to show it works regardless

Between these things and the mood rings that changed colors "depending on your mood", we used to fall for anything lol I remember these popping up and seemingly dissapearing relatively quickly back when I was in high school

I begged for one as a kid, I don’t even think I thought it did anything but I wanted to fit in with everyone else. My dad was outraged by the thought of a $30 rubber bracelet but he eventually caved in. Wore it for like three days then lost it- he was so pissed haha

growing up I didn't even know these things were called, we called them "focus bands". my teammates (baseball) said it helped them focus at the plate so I just started wearing them. I didn't feel anything but I kept wearing mine anyway because it was my team colors. This was definitely a throwback to see them again I had forgotten all about them

This was about as real as that Peter Popoff “Miracle Water” 💀

Oh god, I remember these dumb bracelets and I remember how even as a kid I thought how silly people who wore them were. Once my friend back in primary school got one of these that said "respect" and he claimed that he could feel how it "added" respect. I was like "dude, how? Respect is something that other people give you based on who you are. Respect doesn't come from a rubber band around your wrist." But still, he claimed that he it was "adding" him respect and that he was playing basketball better because of that (despite the fact that he was still missing nearly every shot). Good times.