Mark Cuban Lashes Out Against Power Balance

Mark Cuban has lashed out against the NBA and their endorsement deal with Power Balance Bracelets. Cuban, a member of the investment panel on ABC’s Shark Tank, is also the owner of numerous businesses, most notably the N.B.A Dallas Mavericks.

In a recent video posting, Cuban picks up a box of the Power Balance bracelets and throws them in the trash and states, “See this stuff? It was a scam when they were on Shark Tank. It’s still a scam. I don’t care if the NBA was dumb enough to sign an agreement; this is going where it belongs.”

Power Balance bracelets became popular several years ago when sports people and celebrities alike began endorsing and wearing the product.

Power Balance sell the rubber bracelets that claim to increase your strength, flexibility and balance due to a hologram they place on the product. According to Power Balance the hologram works positively with the body’s natural energy field.

Over the last few years there been several CrossFit events where I have seen Power Balance stands and their salespeople spruiking their products. At one event I was even told by a Power Balance sales person I could literally double my deadlift, run faster, do more muscle-ups and pretty much climb Everest in an hour. I chose not to purchase the product but many around the world have, spending anywhere from $25-$70 for the product.

Late last year, Power Balance agreed to pay a $57 million settlement after a class action lawsuit was filed against them.

This follows another ruling by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that found Power Balance Australia breached s52 of the Trade Practices Act and were thereby forced to offer refunds and publish a corrective statement about their false and misleading advertising claims.

In that statement Power Balance said:

“In our advertising we stated Power Balance wristband improve your strength, balance and flexibility.

We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct.”