Those colorful loops of rubber should be quite familiar to youby now. Yes, we are talking about rubber band bracelets. Theyhave become ubiquitous in the last couple of years. You can seethem on the wrists of Tsunami aid workers, citizens campaigningfor a cause, and even the on wrists of school children.
The rubber band bracelets have become the most-preferred and themost inexpensive way to show your support for a cause, or todonate to charity, or to raise awareness about an issue or adisease. You can see them used for extremely different purposes,such as to proclaim one's religious affiliation, or as a fashionstatement! The rubber band bracelet is the modern way of wearingyour heart on your sleeve, er wrist!
What are rubber band bracelets? They are simply loops of solidrubber, worn on the wrist by stretching and sliding them overthe palm of one's hands. They come in any color imaginable --yellow, orange, blue, green, black, pink... Some aretranslucent, others glow in the dark... And they are worn insupport of many a message or cause -- they are as versatile asthey are stretchable! Not all rubber band bracelets are rubber,though. Some of them are made of silicone.
You can have any message stamped over the rubber band bracelets,or designs crafted on them. In fact, some of the latest rubberband bracelets sport more than one message! Rubber bandbracelets usually sell for $1-5 a piece, and can be orderedonline from many Web sites, in multiples of five hundred, orsmaller packs of a dozen or more. The manufacturers often givediscounts for the larger orders.
The most famous of the rubber band bracelets is the yellow'Livestrong' wristband worn by cycling champion and cancersurvivor Lance Armstrong. The pink ones are worn to show supportto breast cancer patients. SHeDAISY's 'Come Home Soon' yellowrubber band bracelets (named for the group's Top 15 single) withthe words 'Come Home Soon' stamped on them are highly popularamong relatives of American servicemen.
The rubber band bracelet is a very useful and inexpensive toolfor crowd control: it is used as a cheap identifying device inrestricted access events attended by large numbers of people,such as music concerts. The rubber band bracelets are alsoissued by hospitals to their patients as identifying deviceswith some basic medical information stamped on them.
So what makes these rubber band bracelets so popular?Sociologists say people have always used amulets in times oftrouble. Now we are just using them in a more positive way. Yes,rubber band bracelets are more than simple loops of rubber; theyrepresent the human urge to fight and survive great odds.
