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Makers of Crowdfunded “Gravity Blanket” Withdraw Unsupported Medical Claims
- Fricken 9y agoI had a phase of clinical depression, a long time ago now, but I started sleeping in the 14 inch gap between the bed and the wall, to feel squeezed. I did that for months. Who cares what somebody else's science says about it? I liked it and I did it. Does an extra heavy blanket sound nice to you? Then get one. Or don't.
- tedmiston 9y agoThe concern I might have with it is if they raised the money with the claim then removed the claim after people had pledged. It wasn't clear to me from the article what the timeline was with changing the language and the end of the campaign.
- stefanwlb 9y agoShouldn't there be some protection from editing original claims, and if changed, that its clear when and what changed in the wording? I find the whole thing ridiculous.
- tdburn 9y agoYou can cancel and get a refund before the campaign fundraising period ends
- gnicholas 9y agoGood point. For major edits like this — especially where claims violated Kickstarter's TOS — it would seem appropriate to require the creator to send a message to all backers that communicates the change and the reason for it. Otherwise many backers might not find out about the changed language.
- WillPostForFood 9y agoYou don't even need to get a refund. Kickstarter doesn't collect money until the end of the campaign, so you can change, withdraw, increase your pledge as much as you want with a couple clicks.
- egypturnash 9y agoFWIW, Kickstarter won't let you change the text of a reward tier as long as someone's pledged for it. You can change the text of the main pitch all you like, though.
- dstaley 9y agoGravity backer here. They sent out an email to all the backers about the change. > That said, we wanted to clarify that our blanket is not an FDA approved medical device, and as such, we've tweaked the language on our Kickstarter accordingly. We hope you understand, and we’re very excited for you to try this out for yourselves.
- Broken_Hippo 9y agoThe problem is more about not having customers expect the blanket to cure their psychiatric problems. Such language makes it easy to take advantage of someone who isn't in a mentally strong place at the moment - and puts their hopes of being "normal" into such products when the evidence isn't there. I don't think the product itself is so bad: I like the weight of blankets when I sleep and like them to touch the bed on both sides of me. I'd completely understand a lightweight but weighted blanket during the summer, and I'm guessing it would make some folks feel comforted and so on. I'd much rather them have this sort of honesty in their advertising than the language they had.
- URSpider94 9y agoYes, exactly. Get one, or don't. But the seller shouldn't tell people that their blanket cures these disorders, unless they have some proof.
- naravara 9y agoThey never said it cured it. They said it can help.
- wcummings 9y agoThey shouldn't tell people it treats them.
- URSpider94 9y ago... for which they have no evidence.
- WillPostForFood 9y agoThere are two studies cited in the article, they both appear very weak, but they are citing evidence.
- obstinate 9y agoNormally when people talk about citing evidence, they're referring to strong evidence. Citing weak evidence can be about as bad as citing none at all, depending on how weak it is.
- rosser 9y agoClaiming to have a "cure" isn't the only thing that's against these rules.
- justinpombrio 9y agoLook, there's no need to have vague arguments about how we would describe their claims. Here is the wording they removed: "The science behind Gravity reveals that it can be used to treat a variety of ailments, including insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as circumstantial stress and prolonged anxiety." Assuming that "can be used to treat" means what I think it does, this is simply false: the science doesn't show that. And regardless, claims of this form are specifically forbidden by Kickstarter, which prohibits "any item claiming to cure, treat, or prevent an illness or condition". So they removed this claim, like they should have. None of this contradicts the fact that you might want to buy one of these blankets if you have insomnia, etc.
- ebbv 9y agoIf they had just advertised it as "a heavy blanket" do you think it would have gotten funding? It got funding because they made unsubstantiated medical claims, which is illegal for good reason. Otherwise I could sell you "anti-cancer rocks" from my driveway.
- DonHopkins 9y agoMaybe so, but then you'd be misrepresenting anti-tiger rocks as anti-cancer rocks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVqLHghLpw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVqLHghLpw
- vilhelm_s 9y agoTons of people (particularly on the autism spectrum) like weighted blankets, I don't think it's unreasonable that such a project could get kickstarted.
- mst 9y agoMy anecdata matches yours here (notably I know multiple people with both autism and anxiety issues who swear by weighted blankets for helping them sleep).
- draw_down 9y agoOh wow, I did that for a long time too. I don't even remember when I stoped.
- DonHopkins 9y agoWill it cancel out the therapeutic effects of my Space Blanket?
- robg 9y agoYou would agree though that a blanket that claims to cure, without evidence, is misleading and should be regulated?
- coldtea 9y ago>Who cares what somebody else's science says about it? People that dislike snake oil salesmen and don't think there is "my science" and "somebody else's science", but just one science?
- obstinate 9y agoPrecisely. I have no problem hearing about what worked for you. The moment you start telling someone else it'll work for them, especially if you're looking to get paid based on that claim, you better back it up with evidence.
- mst 9y agoI read that to mean "somebody else's scientific (counter)claims", similar to how en_US might contain "according to person X's math". Took me a while to stop being annoyed by the latter, admittedly.
- pbowyer 9y agoGood. I feel sorry for the people who have already backed it; it's hideously expensive for what it is. A nicer finish I'm sure than a home-made one, but crying out for cheap knock-off copies to be on the market within 6 months.
- naravara 9y agoA couple hundred isn't that expensive for a comforter. Ever been to Williams Sonoma? And that's basically on the lower tier of the high end. If anything, the only thing backers should be worried about is if they wind up having to spend all their money on litigation defense and not being able to go produce the thing.
- afarrell 9y ago> Ever been to Williams Sonoma Its worth pointing out that Williams Sonoma is known for having weirdly high-priced goods. See this, which comes out every year: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/theconcourse.deadspin.com/the-2014-haters-guide-to-the-williams-sonoma-catalog-1667452305/amp https://www.google.co.uk/amp/theconcourse.deadspin.com/the-2...
- pbowyer 9y ago> Ever been to Williams Sonoma? No, wrong country. I have been to John Lewis [1] many times; their duvets can be expensive too. The thing with the weighted blanket is you'll need one of these duvets as well - or other blankets - for much of the year. It's an extra. 1. https://www.johnlewis.com https://www.johnlewis.com
- hueving 9y agoThe "lower tier of the high end" is still the high end. More simply, that's expensive.
- bvttf 9y agoA "knock-off" like the dozen or so companies who have been selling weighted blankets for years? Forget six months, you could have one before this campaign ends.
- afarrell 9y agoThe usual way these types of products have been advertised is has previously been infomercials, where a person is shown struggling with store-bought products in a way that looks ridiculous enough that multiple comedians have done stand-up bits about it to the effect of: "who is it that has these problems?" The answer: people with disabilities. But by advertising in this way, infomercials appealed both to those with disabilities (who recognized the implied relevance to their condition) and those who benefited from the curb-cut effect[1]. They were able to sell more units for a lower price and also avoid making explicit medical claims. This kickstarter, possibly following from the popularity of fidget toys, decided to be more explicit. --- [1] The Curb Cut effect is a generally useful observation in UX design you can read about in a few places. Here is one: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_curb_cut_effect https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_curb_cut_effect OXO-brand kitchen tools for arthritis are another example of it.
- sctb 9y agoWe've updated the link from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/makers-of-crowdfunded-ldquo-gravity-blanket-rdquo-withdraw-unsupported-medical-claims-after-raising-3-million/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/makers-of-crowdfu..., which points to this.
- Houshalter 9y agoWhy does kickstarter allow so many awful projects on their site? This is very far from the worst of them. I enjoy reading https://www.reddit.com/r/shittykickstarters/ https://www.reddit.com/r/shittykickstarters/ but they have nothing to gain from being associated with this kind of stuff.
- ohazi 9y agoKickstarter appears to have become this generation's version of the late night infomercial, which is a shame.
- toexitthedonut 9y agoTwo kinds of bad crowdfunding projects come to mind: One where the product is in the realm of possibility with today's engineering and can be reproduced in mass quantity, but the creator dropped the ball in terms of logistics and communication. The other kind is the one where the product is very pie-in-the-sky, requires multiple breakthroughs in the process of making said product, and the creator shows a clear lack of expertise or reputation in the disciplines for making the product. Often, the people that take the bait in the second group are an extreme case of wishful thinking of wanting their past vision of the future (which is today) to be full of wonderful tech products, and they see something remotely futuristic and throw their money at it.
- danso 9y agoMisleading medical claims aside, this looks like another Coolest Cooler, in which the creator is in over his head. His original goal was $21,500, and since going viral, he keeps adding more spots to the "Early Bird" backers. The creator has listed no other team members and has no production experience himself. If you read his bio carefully [0], he alludes to having production experience, but lists no names or links whatsoever except to his media company, which is literally a Youtube channel with ~50 subscribers. [1]. That his campaign had misleading medical claims seems to be a hint that he doesn't have medical experts or designers who have experience in this area. [0] https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1620645203/about https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1620645203/about [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwIXCnpTwZQaRtzyNOyzkfA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwIXCnpTwZQaRtzyNOyzkfA
- toexitthedonut 9y agoThis can actually require less overhead than Coolest Cooler, due to its particular usage of materials. The only big logistical issues will be shipping super heavy blankets and sourcing those materials. That said, adding more early bird backers is another sort of over-promising, and where you're gonna end up biting off more than you can chew.
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoA friend of mine has a weighted blanket, and it's been a godsend for her anxiety. But she's autistic. Temple Grandin wrote quite a lot about the therapeutic value of pressure for autistic people, but I haven't heard of it for neurotypicals before.
- elvirs 9y agoafter reading all these comments now I want to buy a weighted blanket but not from kickstarter
- eigenvalue 9y agoI actually bought this as a result of seeing it here. I can totally see how this would work. I'm excited to try it out.
- goldenkey 9y agoAre you aware there are reputable and cheaper (non ripoff) weighted blankets on the market and have been for years? You bought into a glitzy video..