The Power of Affiliation
by Scott Wasden ~ January 19th, 2011. Filed under: Uncategorized.Healthy living and active lifestyles are social trends that have drastically increased in popularity. Companies such as Power-balance have taken full advantage of this. Claiming to improve strength, balance, and flexibility the company produces bracelets which cost approximately $40. They have also teamed up with professional athletes such as Drew Brees, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant to further strengthen their popularity. Recently Power-balance has taken some flack over their claims about the bands functionality as their has been little to no scientific evidence that these bands do in fact increase flexibility, strength and balance. Power-Balance disagrees and states that this data was collected from customer testimonials and continue to stand by their product. Even though the company offers a full money back guarantee for unsatisfied customers, they claim to not see many returns and conclude that customers are generally happy with their product. One must argue that with no scientific evidence to support these “magic bracelets” that the affiliation with the professional athletes is the sole reason for the companies success to date. Power-balance along with many other companies have teamed up with athletes and celebrities to endorse their products. It seems that a quick and fast way for new emerging companies to gain some credibility is through affiliation. This is a good way for companies to get noticed but we as consumers must not be blinded by this popularity and be sure that the product is beneficial to our needs before purchase.
