A reasonbly quick test -- and any marketer -- will tell you people do Not want to know. They will pay a little for prevention, and pay a lot for cure. The 'stress shirt' (mood ring) is pretty much useless. A testable proposition would be if people attribute stress to their response to situations, or to the situations and other people.

In the land of "McDonalds made me eat junk food" and "Evil recording companies made me download free music" the stressors are imagined outside our control. Hollywood, Drug culture, you name it; the name of the game is not a lack of awareness but a refusal to be aware.

Posted by: on June 17, 2003 06:47 AM

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I would beg to differ. Yeah, the evils of health can be linked to the stresses of overwork and underpay, fueled by the escapist and consumption-driven society in which we live. For a large demographic, an average day consists of work and TV. By that rationale, it would be pretty easy to peddle the "stress shirt", IMHO. Still this is the kind of stuff informercials are made of.

Posted by: Francis Wu on June 17, 2003 02:15 PM

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I'm mostly concerned about why you chose to pee next to me when there are twelve other urinals available.

Posted by: Lenny on June 17, 2003 05:14 PM

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Having suffered through several anxiety attacks as of late, nothing could be worse than having a shirt telling you that your heart rate is too damn high or your blood pressure a little off - guess what, that sends you into a worse spiral. These shirts would be great for the makers of Paxil and Zoloft - should come with a free package of either.

Posted by: on June 20, 2003 01:01 AM

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