Pherotones

Reader woly sent me this link to Pherotones – apparently these people are selling ring tones for your phone that they claim act like pheromones to attract the opposite sex:

Can one ringtone make you irresistible?

Are you ready to unlock your sexual potential in an adventure of self-discovery through untamed passion and incredible pleasure? If you said “Yes,” then you’re ready for Pherotones, the ringtone secret that can make you irresistible to the opposite sex. Click on these absolutely free Pherotones and listen for yourself.

So what evidence do they have to back up their claims? Well, it’s just the usual bunch testimonials dressed up with pseudo-scientific language and lame appeals to science doesn’t know everything. Get a load of this from How Pherotones Work:

Modern science has only begun to unlock the secrets of the human brain. While making great strides in mapping the neural pathways and chemical triggers that incite various moods and behaviors, mainstream scientists have yet to grasp exactly what makes human beings, and their brains, tick.

Scientists don’t know everything about the brain so Pherotones work. I’m convinced. And of course the establishment wants to keep it secret:

Pherotones are presently too controversial and too hot for mainstream science. Established scientists, with their cushy university jobs, are afraid to probe the secrets of Pherotones too deeply, lest they offend the sensibilities of their colleagues. Only a brave few have dared to publish their Pherotone findings.

In reality, any scientist would jump at the chance to prove something like this works, if it did. The best evidence they have for this stuff is this lame video which I find hard to believe wasn’t faked (you have to watch it to the end to see what I mean). Who do they think they’re fooling?

Comments

[BronzeDog]

I'm beginning to wonder if my jokes about LSD in people's water supplies are actually true.

[Rockstar Ryan]

What exactly is "mainstream" science? Do the practitioners, like, actually do research instead of making things up or what?

[aikimoe]

Guys, this is a joke. At least the video is. It has to be. If it was a real product, they wouldn't want customers to think that their cellphone would cause people of both sexes to attack them.

If I was a betting man, I'd bet a whole lot that it was an elaborate joke.

[BronzeDog]

The problem with being a well-informed skeptic is that the lines between real woos and fake woos almost completely vanish.

[Skeptico]

aikimoe:

Did you check the date of my post?

[Les]

Damn you, Skeptico! Making me feel clever and insightful like that, only to remind me that I'm neither!

Oh well, typical day for me.

[Skeptico]

Just to be clear here – the Pherotones site is obviously a spoof. I thought the video of the groom at his wedding running off to have sex with another man when he heard the guy’s cell phone go off, was a pretty big hint. As was the $6,900.69 "research grant". Anyway, for April fools I decided to do a spoof debunking of a spoof site. A bit too subtle, perhaps?

Admittedly, some genuine woo sites are so out there it’s difficult to tell at times.