A Watch Powered By Snake Oil

from the nice-try dept

For years there have been scam sites and spam claiming to sell special items that will help "protect" you from the "harmful effects of electromagnetic fields" such as is given off by mobile phones. The FTC cracked down on a bunch of the scams about a year ago. They were cheap tinfoil products that did nothing. So, what happens when someone takes that same concept and puts it in an expensive watch? Suddenly people are flocking to it. The fancy watch, which sells for $600 to $2,000 claims that it will protect you from harmful electromagnetic radiation - even though plenty of studies have shown the risks of most standard electromagnetic fields (especially from things like mobile phones) is minimal. The company selling the watches has donated them to plenty of celebrities and athletes, and they even get these "experts" to claim they perform better while wearing the watch. Apparently, if you want to sell scam products based on unfounded fears to the public, the trick is not to go for the "common people", but charge lots of extra money, and gets a few celebrities to buy into your snake oil.