The Pseudoscience Claim: The Hawaii Chair

The chosen pseudoscience claim is an infomercial featuring the ‘Hawaii Chair’. This infomercial claims that it takes the “work out of your workout.” This is a chair supposedly works out your abs, whether at home or at work. There is a 2800 RPM motor that causes the seat to move in the circular motion - similar to using a hula hoop. There are actors and actresses demonstrating the chair with Tamara Henry, Miss. Arkansas in 1997 and a personal trainer, endorsing this product. Although Tamara is never seen trying the product, she claims that the “repetitive circular movements of the hula that specifically target the core abdominal muscles” create the perfect abs.
Those who have never taken a psychology course would likely view this as an intriguing
Throughout the infomercial, there is an over-reliance on testimonial and anecdotal evidence - there are no facts found and only informal personal evidence is used to validate the claims of the advertisement. “The plural of anecdote isn’t fact” (Park, 2003) and there are far too many anecdotes found within this infomercial. An anecdote can be defined as an unreliable account or hearsay, an example found within this commercial is “slimmer and sexier looking waistline right at home, without ever driving to the gym, picking up a weight, or doing a single crunch or sit up.” Although anecdotal evidence is useful to companies pseudo-scientifically claiming products, it is wrongfully leading for the viewers - this type of evidence is “superficially persuasive” (Lilienfeld, Landfield, 2008) because it is exactly what the audience desires to
This appeals to the desires of the viewers, those watching this infomercial wish to be fit so by showing ‘possible’ final results (the actresses), it encourages the viewer to buy this product. This correlates with the old saying “hope springs eternal,” the audience hopes to achieve this body and people tend to believe what they wish to