Wristbands

To what might we attribute the success of charity wristbands as promotional devices?

Marketers have been able to successfully promote and sell all sorts of charities because of the use of wristbands and their connotations. People can easily identify with these causes and are willing to buy the wristbands due to the fact that it is the "cool" thing to do. People who are interested in being part of the "in" crowd will always be looking for the next big fad, and for a long time, charity wristbands were incredibly popular.
These wristbands became popular because a small minority of people started wearing them which lead to people wanting to be noticed by having them, and then became mainstream after that. The cutting edge of charity wristbands had to go to Lance Armstrong's LiveStrong. His marketing campaign was dependent on people wanting to be considered cool. He was getting so much positive press after winning the Tour De France 6 consecutive times, and Americans thought that it would be popular to be associated with him. The marketers for LiveStrong knew how to take advantage of his situation, making the wristband yellow just like the yellow leader/winner jersey that is given to the winner of the Tour. His charity was able to benefit from his success and the marketers knowledge that people will always want to be socially accepted.