Wearing a yellow wristband? That's so 2004.
The rubber-wristband-for-a-cause concept -- launched last spring by Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to support his cancer foundation -- has exploded like dynamite in a paint store, producing bracelets in every imaginable color benefiting every imaginable cause.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday March 23, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 43 words Type of Material: Correction
Wristband colors -- An article in Sunday's Calendar section about wristband colors and associated causes said that orange represented multiple sclerosis research and awareness. Although some MS bands are orange, red is the color used for bands from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday March 27, 2005 Home Edition Sunday Calendar Part E Page 2 Calendar Desk 1 inches; 41 words Type of Material: Correction
Wristband colors -- An article about wristband colors and associated causes last Sunday said that orange represented multiple sclerosis research and awareness. While some M.S. bands are orange, red is the color used for bands from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
In addition to the 40 million yellow "Live Strong" bracelets Armstrong has sold for $1 each, there are now teal, orange, pink, purple, blue, clear and glow-in-the-dark colors as well as combo versions in red, white and blue, camouflage, rainbow stripe and a Rastafarian red, black and yellow.
The panoply of causes for which the new bands have been enlisted include AIDS, poverty, muscular dystrophy, breast cancer, relief for the South Asian tsunami and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. Some bracelets bang the drum for Jesus, others denounce bullying, some proclaim "Support Our Troops," and some get political: a "Never Surrender" bracelet issued by Working Assets, a long-distance phone service that donates to nonprofits, benefits organizations "fighting to offset damage caused by current policies of our national government."
And in true all-American fashion, if one band is good, more are better, even at the risk of losing sight of their messages.
Santa Monica High School junior Tommy Duarte has been known to wear an armful of the bands. "It's better than spending money on fast food," says the 17-year-old, sporting a multicolored assortment nearly reaching his elbow.
Customers at Finish Line athletic shoe store in Culver City's Fox Hills Mall, where many retailers sell the bracelets, buy as many as eight at a time, their motive often no loftier than color coordination, says sales associate Alicia Wilson. "People will buy a pair of green shoes and get a wristband to match," she says.
Eddy Reyes, a three-bander on a class break at West Los Angeles College, says, sure, he wears the bracelets for style. He recently slipped on all seven in his repertory on the way to a workout.
"They're something that people recognize me by," says the 22-year-old from Inglewood. But like many wristband wearers, giving to charity and making a public statement of support also matter to Reyes, who has an uncle in remission from prostate cancer and counts a "Live Strong" yellow among his collection.
