The creator of Laundry Balls.
A ball made of plastic, without any sophisticated gadget within, and you expect it to “achieve the same efficacy as washing clothes with detergent?”
That’s right - it doesn’t.
It was a huge mess of scientific fraud - scientists claimed that this ball could achieve magical powers of cleaning clothes even better than with detergent, and was showed to be more environmentally friendly and cheaper in the long run. It was sold at $10 each.
But people complained about the lackluster performances of those nifty gadgets. Real scientists then did the real research, and found out that the ball does absolutely nothing. It was the water in the washing machine that helped to “clean” the clothes from grime and dirt, giving the illusion to some gullible customers that their clothes were actually being cleaned by this mysterious ball.
The creators of laundry balls knew that of course, but they couldn’t go around selling nothing right? They had to market something. So, a tangible object was created.
They actually raked in tonnes of profit from a plastic toy since its start-up costs were low, and people actually fell into their placebo trap. The creators exploited this human weakness of falling prey to these pretentious scams, even though they were utterly ridiculous and illogical, and showed that placebo effects can sometimes override logic and rationality.
Not all smart people use their intelligence ethically.
I'm age