Live strong, die strong?

Any of the millions of people worldwide (and practically all of San Francisco’s yuppie population) wearing those trendy yellow Lance Armstrong bracelets better slip them off in Florida, unless they want to die there.

The “LiveStrong” rubber wristbands are being taped over at a Tampa hospital because yellow is the color of the medical center’s “do not resuscitate” bands given to patients who do not want to be revived if their hearts stop. There haven’t been any cases of mistaken non-resuscitation yet, according to BayCare Health Systems, but they are not going to wait for that to happen.

The LiveStrong bracelets are sold by the Lance Armstrong Foundation to raise money for cancer education and research. The Foundation reports that the bracelets, released in May, have sold a worldwide 20 million as of November. Orders on the website now take three to four weeks to fill.

AdFreak hopes this will discourage the “Support a Cure” knockoffs being sold at drugstores for $1.99, which have no connection to the Foundation.

—Posted by Celeste Ward

December 14, 2004 | Permalink