UK esports organisation Excel Esports have cut short a partnership with a company that produces magnetic wristbands following criticism online.
Excel announced a partnership with ‘magnetic wellness’ brand Bioflow earlier this week in a press release.
The pair spoke about ‘Bioflow’s comfortable and therapeutic wristbands assisting with the injury prevention and recovery of Excel’s professional players after competitions and long training sessions, enhancing their wellbeing and their ability to perform at peak performance’.
However, community backlash on social media led Excel to delete their announcement tweet – and the Bioflow logo is not featured on the Excel Esports website.
Established in 1991, Bioflow has worked with athletes including professional England cricketer Jonny Bairstow, former world number one golfer Lee Westwood, as well as recent US Women’s Open winner Minjee Lee.
While Bioflow has turned its attention to the esports industry with its sport wristband, ‘featuring a multidirectional force known as Central Reverse Polarity’, not everyone shared the company’s positivity, having critiqued the product on Twitter.
Now Excel has posted the following statement:
The band apparently ‘helps to increase blood flow and cellular activity to accelerate the recovery of prevalent musculoskeletal pains in the hands, neck, and back that are all experienced by more than a third of esports athletes’, but Bioflow admits on its esports website that “although we receive plenty of testimonials and reviews detailing how Bioflow products have helped people, there is no guarantee they can work for everyone. We will not make any claim that any of our products will prevent, cure, mitigate, treat or diagnose illness.”
The main Bioflow website also mentions: “Whether the effect is a placebo or if it is real, there is significant anecdotal evidence to demonstrate that magnetic therapy is beneficial. In instances where an effect is not proven, it is identified that the use of such magnets on the skin surface has not been found to be detrimental to the health of the user.”
Last month, Excel Esports signed a 12-month deal with Sony after extending their EE partnership.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
