The Power Balance Bracelet Scam with Josh Garlepp

Just a few short years ago a bunch of elite athletes started wearing silicone wristbands with shiny bits of holographic plastic on them (yes, like on a Pokemon card). Why? They claimed the shiny plastic bangles made them faster & stronger & even helped improve their sense of balance. How did they work? Nobody seemed to know… but that didn’t seem to matter. Millions of people around the world were willing to buy a Power Balance Band to see what it could do to enhance their own performance. David Beckham and Shaquille O’Neill were on board, and the rest of the world didn’t want to miss out.  Our guest Josh Garlepp serves us the gist of how the Power Balance Band craze kicked off, how it peaked, and of course how it crashed when people realised that silicone bracelets with holographic insets don’t actually *do* anything much.  Skip straight to the story: approx 10:50 Josh Garlepp shares the story with Jacob Follow Josh on Instagram and TikTok @joshgarlepp Listen to Josh's podcast 'Full Credit' on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5eokwhUFJuZphyaspSOZdL We recommend the India prank call episode https://open.spotify.com/episode/1QG8AB7bZ1v9lkI37GlCOq And the Thorpie's Angels episode https://open.spotify.com/episode/10jLMr0zdxeS80K3zJfoM6 We give you just the gist, but if you want more, there's this: Watch the Power Balance Band test video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gIMxjr3n5U Watch Shaquille O'Neal endorse the Power Balance Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcLt16Otmmc Watch the Today Tonight story about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF7gvhj6140&t=1s Follow us on Insta: @justthegistpodcast Send us your suGISTions for stories and guests: [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.