If you’ve ever had then insatiable desire to leak cellulite from your feet, then this is the post for you. on the back of my previous post (recommended pre-reading), today I’ll be looking at one example of how the detox industry hijacks science for sales: detox foot pads. Brands that produce this sham product include Kinoki (US), Champneys (UK) and Avon (multiple countries). this Kinoki TV ad accurately captures the scientific pantomime common to the advertising of all of these brands.
There are many things in this ad that make me chuckle. the fact that ‘alcohol’ is spelt ‘alchohol’ and ‘alcholol’ in the same table. the fact that reflexology is an ancient Chinese practice, not a Japanese one. and the first sentence – “Are you poisoning yourself with unavoidable toxins from the food, water and air we breathe”. Wait, I’m supposed to be breathing my food and water? the part that sounds like a reading from the crumpled feminine hygiene pamphlet stashed in the bottom of a year 7 girl’s schoolbag: “use a fresh pad each night until the pad becomes lighter and lighter, and you’ll feel better and better”.
However, what’s uniquely interesting here isn’t so much the bogus science in the advertising (there’s nothing unusual about laughable scientific hokum). What’s fascinating is the unusual step the manufacturers have taken in using scientifically-informed product design, not just sham advertising, to give the impression the product actually works. in an ingenious irony, the manufacturers have used science…to undermine science.
The exact ingredients of detox pads vary across brands. However, one ingredient is always constant – wood vinegar. Wood vinegar (an acid) is a white powdery solid when thoroughly dehydrated. However, when exposed to water, the wood vinegar turns a dark, murky brown. Therefore, when the pads are taken out of their packet, they are initially white in appearance. But when exposed to moisture in the air and on the user’s sweaty feet, they turn brown. the brown comes from a simple chemical reaction between water and wood vinegar, not seeping toxins.
Capitalising on visual ’evidence’
Few sham-science products have the opportunity to give such striking visual ‘evidence’ of working without actually doing what is promised. some products have to rely on the placebo effect, or people’s tendency to blame themselves (I must not be trying hard enough/doing it right). for others, especially one-off large purchases like exercise equipment, it almost irrelevant whether the product works or not. once the purchase is made, the money is securely in the hands of the company.
As detox pads are single-use, the company has a lot to gain from customers who believe they work. These customers are likely to purchase them again and again. Detox pad companies capitalise on the rare combined opportunity of a single-use product with a guaranteed visual indicator of its effectiveness. the Kinoki advertisement is a prime example. the advertisement shows the pads getting lighter each night, presumably as all the toxins are removed from the body. because the wood vinegar in the pads will always react with water, they will continue to turn brown night after night. Horrified customers may be drawn into a cycle of fear, believing their bodies to be teeming with seemingly never-ending toxins (‘a healthy person would be getting white pads by now!’). It’s a psychological recipe for buying up big.
Football – it’s the new science
A different company, Kenrico, has gone to extraordinary efforts to create the illusion of scientific legitimacy and use it as a selling point for detox pads. most notable is their website (kenrico.com/sapsheet.html). the section claiming to contain “research and peer review studies” contains an astounding 46 A4 pages of content. (For the enviro-anxious of you, I promise this fun fact is derived from the wonders ‘print preview’ function, not an enormous waste of paper). 46 pages will make any potential customer’s eyes glaze over, leaving them to just accept that the jumble of text and graphs proves the product’s effectiveness.
Yet a simple Google search reveals that three of the four institutions alleged to have conducted the studies don’t exist at all. the other is an English football club. yes, a football club. according to the website, they offer mini pork pies for wedding buffets. Mmmmmm science-tastic! If the global Power Balance wristband scandal taught us anything – it’s don’t trust a footballer’s endorsement. Sorry fellas.
May as well just wrap your feet in a couple of ShamWows.
Images by ‘srqpix’ and ‘St Stev’ respectively. Sourced from Flickr.
Is Reflexology really used in a detox foot pad? – HAAP Media ltd.Detox Foot Pads are being linked to the bodywork modality of Reflexology. what are these detoxifying foot patches and how do they work?