I understand now why America is in such bad shape. There are Americans stupid enough to fall for this horseshit. This “detoxification” scam invokes some of the best (that is, most hilarious) of the classic and modern-day pseudoscience terms, like “reflexology,” and “ions.”

What’s the scam this time? For twenty bucks, they’ll send you a “two week supply” of foot pads. Wear them all day, and they turn black. After that initial purchase, you get “unlimited free refills” for life! It only costs you $12.95 in shipping and handling for each shipment [1]. The product claims it will detoxify your body as you walk [2]. It also claims it will absorb “chemicals,” “heavy metals,” “metabolic wastes,” “toxins,” and even “cellulite [3].”

[1] Yeah, we’re talking about a pound or two of little foot pads. It can’t cost more than a dollar or two to ship, and even if they’re using union workers (heh, yeah right) to package and process these, actually sending one out shouldn’t cost more than a dollar or two.

[3] Cellulite is a simple “dimpling” of the skin in the lower limbs, abdomen, and pelvic regions. It is not a “particle” that flows through the body that is excreted through the feet, or any other part of the body.

The advertisement I saw for this rip-off came on Comedy Central — not exactly a “mainstream” broadcaster, but certainly not a fringe one either. These people obviously have decent piles of money, to throw a commercial together and run it on a network with a lot of viewers. Penn & Teller’s Bullshit! did a good job of ripping “reflexology” a new one in its first season episode, and in a similar episode about dietary supplements, a researcher pointed out the simple reason why this shit works: even if this company gets fined millions of dollars by the FTC (or another governing body), they will have already made far more than the combined costs of production, distribution, marketing, and fines, and everybody involved (except the victims) is happy.

Sigh. Could we just try to start thinking before we buy every stupid gimmicky piece of crap that shows up on a television set? Please? This junk (including a bulk of the spam we get in our mailboxes) wouldn’t work if people stopped buying it.

Read some other bits of commentary about this product, lest you think I’m just spewing bile for no reason

• Health Talk offers up a skeptical article.
• The Museum of Hoaxes has a forum post on the subject.
• Unsought Input weighs in.

This one’s easy to debunk — go look around on Google just a little bit to see tons of opinions, all negative