Battle of the wrist bands
Brenda Lewis
Issue date: 6/8/05 Section: Community
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Tour de France great, Lance Armstrong, with the help of an initial $1 million donation by Nike for the production of the first 5 million silicone wrist bands, increased cancer awareness. For each $1 "Live Strong" band sold, $1 was donated to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The cancer survivor, Armstrong started the foundation to fund cancer education and research.
$32 million dollars later, the successful campaign gave rise to the industry of awareness bands. Manufactured in China for a few cents, the bands have proven to be lucrative in fund raising and unmatched in bringing public awareness to virtually anything.
WWW.collectorsparadise.com lists fifty different organizations that are using awareness bracelets to promote their causes. March of Dimes has "Saving Babies". Autism has "Connecting the Pieces". Alzheimer's has "Mind strong?" Breast Cancer asks for a cure in all the colors of the rainbow.
Salt Lake City resident, Andy Chudd, with partner, Steve Cloward, started Bands for Freedom Foundation in December 2004. The foundation has sold 350,000 red, white or blue "Freedom" bands in the last six months. The result of the sales has contributed $200,000 to the Armed Forces Relief Trust. The AFRT raises money to help families of members of our armed services.
Vice president and Director of Bands of Freedom, Chudd attributes the success of the promotion to celebrity participation. "We have been very successful at getting celebrities to pose for photos wearing our bands that we post on our website, and we always follow up the postings with a press release," he said.
At www.bandsforfreedom.com, one can see Carolina Panthers wide receiver Mushin Muhammed, Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner, recording artists Bowling for Soup, actor Michael Keaton and many others proudly sporting their Bands for Freedom.
Chudd and Cloward were seen on the Fox News national program "Dayside" on Memorial Day to promote the bands and to inform the public of the Armed Forces Relief Trust.
Charities are not the only ones to take advantage of the rubber band medium. Statements of affiliations or attitudes are popular as well. At the collector's paradise website everything from "Pope John Paul II Rest in Peace" to "Bite Me" are represented. Activities ranging from "I Love Hunting" to "I Love Hip Hop" are available to those who want to identify themselves to cronies.
The LDS Church has jumped on the "band" wagon. Yellow bracelets that change to white in the sun will be a prominent feature in the celebration of Joseph Smiths' 200th birthday at Rice Eccles Stadium July 16th.
