Amazingly, those plastic MPT SmogBuster Fuel Discs don't improve fuel efficiency

Just in case it wasn't clear before, scientists would like to  reiterate that those MPT SmogBuster Fuel Discs you're supposed to stick to your gas tank to improve fuel efficiency and reduce pollution
don't actually work. We know it's hard to believe that the plastic stickers, which retail for $299 (as in two hundred and ninety-nine dollars), don't actually emit "holographic frequencies into the gas tank and change the molecular structure of the gasoline," but you're going to have to just take this one on faith, ok?

[Will @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I've heard that if you stick these allover your iPod it can hold twice as many songs.

[Justin Ashworth @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I'm sure if these things really worked they would put them in the underground tanks at gas stations.

[BmxKID @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

This is like the DEFINITION of the word "balls".

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

As long as there's gullible people, there's a market for zany shit with outrageous promises.

A company sells a device called the Turbo Zet which claims it is an 'electric turbocharger' and it costs $300.

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_0237/article.html?popularArticle

[Michael Moncur @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

But my cellphone antenna booster sticker still works... right?

[Fabulo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

You're kidding! It really works, now my H2 gets 6.5 mpg!
$299 is a bargain too.

[Joey Geraci @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

that's a joke right, I hope so

[Nacho @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Well, apparently it fails as a sticker as well. According to the article, "The disc is to be taped or glued to the bottom of your car's gas tank." What kind of sticker needs tape? I'm just disappointed there isn't a link for me to place my order. Sigh...

[tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

And just what are "holographic frequencies?" I don't remember them when I was learning ROYGBIV in school!

[Thievingjoker @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Kind of reminds me of a Saturday Night Live skit with Gilda Radner sniffing an exhaust pipe.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/78/78aautoscent.phtml

[Russ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Gotta love those Americans!

[Cranky Media Guy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

If you like this, you'll LOVE visiting skepdic.com (yes, I spelled that correctly). It has a whole section on shit like this.

[James Riley @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

This is just another scam using MLM. As far as the original marketers are concerned, the type of product they're flogging really doesn't matter, just so long as they rope in plenty of "distributors" or whatever they wish to call them.

Older folks may remember the infamous Holiday Magic scam of the sixties. They claimed to sell expensive cosmetics, but that which they were really interested in selling was just "distributorships".

Now folks, I've got this great little device that'll guarantee you T1 speeds through your dialup modem; just glue it on the back of your computer.

And the pink little piggies fly far and wide....

[Cranky Media Guy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Hey, James Riley, if you're interested in that whole Holiday Magic era, you might want to look in your local library for a book entitled Dare To Be Great. It's all about Glenn W. Turner, a scam artist who was involved in that kind of thing in that time period. It's pretty interesting stuff, to me at least.