If You Purchase A "Shark Repellent" Band From One-Armed Surfer Bethany Hamilton, You Kind of Deserve To Be Bitten By A Shark
Daily Mail - Surfer and shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton has been slammed for promoting a product that promises to deter ocean predators - but critics say the gadget has little to no effect.
Hamilton, 34, who was attacked by a 14-foot shark while surfing in 2003 and had her left arm amputated, posted a video to her Instagram page on Monday promoting Sharkbanz - wearable devices that claim to deter sharks and other ocean predators using an electromagnetic field.
'Sharkbanz are designed to help you overcome your fear of sharks and minimize the risk,' the video said, with a clip of her surfing. 'I'm cheering you on to overcome and have fun.'
A New Untold Story introduced me to Bethany Hamilton a couple years back. The 13-year old surfing prodigy who had her left-arm amputated after being ravaged by shark while out for a casual morning surf. Who returned to surfing just a month later and went on to win her first national surfing title within 2 years of the attack, despite having half as many arms as her competition.
There's so much you can learn from Bethany Hamilton. How to overcome your fears in the face of adversity, how to not let a minor hiccup such as losing 1 of your 4 limbs stop you from achieving your dreams, how to put on a wet suit with one hand. But when it comes to taking advice on how to not be viciously attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark, there has to be a better person you can go to for that.
I don't begrudge Bethany Hamilton for taking this opportunity. I'm sure she does well enough for herself financially. The motivational speaking opportunities alone probably pay the bills. But there's only so much money in surfing. When she's presented with a chance to make a quick buck by being the face of some sort of surfing related product, I can't blame her for jumping at the opportunity. But she must have been a bit confused when she first got that call.
"You want me to be the face of not being attacked by sharks? Yeah I mean I'm happy do it but like... are familiar with my past? I don't have the best track record when it comes to..... I mean it just seems that there are sooooooo many other people who better fit the profile of a person who's never been..... like..... I don't necessarily have the best track record of coming out of the water unscath-.... ya know what fuck it never mind I'm in."
The product Sharkbandz sells is objectively hilarious. It's a magnet that allegedly scares off sharks. But statistically speaking, your chances of being bitten by a shark are only 1 in 3.75 million. To look at those numbers and think the world needs something to make that risk even smaller is ridiculous. They're definitely engaging in a bit of fear mongering. Which is exactly why people are upset with Bethany Hamilton and Sharkbanz. Apparently there have been some high-profile shark attacks in Florida recently, so Sharkbanz is being accused of capitalizing on irrational fear. It's like if Barstool started selling necklaces that repelled crazy homeless people attacks back when a bunch of girls went viral on TikTok within a week of each other for being punched in the face while walking around NYC.
The product would work perfectly for 99% of the people who bought that necklace (assuming 100 people would buy it which is a stretch). And then even if one person has an incident we could be like, "Well that was just an outlier. Look how well it worked for everyone else!" Then proceed boast about it's 99% effectiveness rate.
But even more importantly, people claim that Sharkbanz product simply does not work.
But Schellenberg noted that in 2016, a 16-year-old South Florida surfer Zack Davis was wearing one of the devices when a black-tip shark attacked him and bit into his right arm.
'It was supposed to keep sharks away, and the first time I wore it I got bit,' Davis told CBS 12 of the device he got for Christmas.
He spent 24 hours in the hospital, and had to receive 44 stitches.
Schellenberg also claimed that one of his friends was testing out the products and wound up 'hand-feeding' the sharks.
'When it didn't stop the sharks from approaching him, he fed one and gave another one nose rubs,' Schellenberg wrote.
In fact, a 2018 peer-reviewed study determined that Sharkbanz 'had limited or no measurable effect on white shark behavior.'
And Daryl McPhee, an associate professor at Bond University in Australia who received government funds to study unprovoked shark attacks told Forbes that Sharkbanz and other similar devices have undergone 'only limited independent testing' that shows 'a very limited deterrent effect'.
But again.. if you're a surfer who bought this product. If you saw that of all people Bethany Hamilton had one, and you thought to yourself, "Well if she says it works I'm sure it's safe!"… you can't be surprised when you're instantly flanked by a family of Great Whites.
The people at Sharkbanz must wake up laughing. They're selling $128 magnets. When they founded Sharkbanz back in 2014 they probably didn't expect it to last more than 6 months. But then people just kept buying their fucking magnets.
"And then, we hired Bethany Fucking Hamilton as are spokesperson. The literal face of being attacked by a shark. And they're STILL buying them!"
Personally I think Sharkbanz should think about expanding. Maybe sell some sort of state of the art wind chime that keeps your house safe from ghosts. Or a spray that keeps big foot's out of your backyard. Or maybe get into the plane crash prevention business and hire that Sully pilot who crash landed his plane in the Hudson River after running into a flock of birds to be the face of it. Keep up the good work guys. And fingers crossed Bethany Hamilton doesn't lose any more limbs while wearing your ankle magnet. I'm not sure if your business would be able to survive that one.