Whatever Happened to Esso Watches after Shark Tank?

Some people might remember Esso Watches from Shark Tank. In short, Ryan Naylor is the man behind Esso Watches, which makes watches with negative ions that are supposed to improve people’s balance as well as their decision-making capabilities by counter-acting the positive ions with which people are bombarded on a constant basis by most electronics.

Naturally, Naylor’s pitch was torn to pieces by Mark Cuban, who took offense at its unproven claims, which is why he more or less convinced the other investors to stay out of it as well.

Whatever Happened to Esso Watches After Shark Tank?

With that said, Esso Watches managed to continue on for some time in spite of Naylor’s failure to secure funding via Shark Tank. After all, we live in a very health-conscious society, meaning that there are a lot of people out there who are on a constant search for ways with which to protect both their health and the health of their loved ones.

Due to this, there is a huge focus on the latest products to come out, which promise benefits that can’t be found in their predecessors because while medical science has seen enormous leaps and bounds, it is still far from the point when it can cure the full range of human sufferings.

Science or Not?

Unfortunately, it is difficult for people to tell when the latest products are based on the latest medical science or not. In part, this is because the latest medical science can sometimes seem like outright magic, with examples ranging from scientists teaching the human body’s own immune system to go after cancerous tissues to engineers making prosthetic limbs that can be controlled using nothing but the human mind.

As a result, the common perception for what is and isn’t possible has been stretched, thus making it possible for a wide range of products to slip through people’s natural sense of skepticism.

However, it should also be noted that the sciences have seen so much progress in recent decades that people are no longer capable of evaluating the latest advancements in fields other than their own with true effectiveness.

This is the reason that it isn’t really possible for people to be leaders in multiple scientific fields in the present because remaining at the forefront of even one is a huge ongoing commitment. Likewise, this is the reason that it is very, very difficult for consumers to distinguish between products based on the latest science and products based on the latest scientific-sounding marketing even when they make a good faith effort.

Learning from Past Mistakes

Due to this, there is a huge market for health products that sound beneficial but are more than a little bit dubious in nature. Sometimes, they are pushed by celebrities with enormous influence, with an excellent example being Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, which has done everything from selling jade eggs with supposed crystal healing properties to giving a platform on at least one occasion to a so-called “expert” who doesn’t believe in the existence of HIV/AIDS. Other times, these products are less successful, as shown by the eventual fate of Esso Watches.

Amusingly, Esso Watches wasn’t done in by a sudden outburst of skepticism among potential customers. Instead, it was done in by Exxon Mobil, which was less than enthusiastic about the idea of a rather dubious watch company that happened to share a name with a brand that it has owned for more than 100 years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Naylor settled with Exxon Mobil, which is why Esso Watches no longer exists.

Esso Watches is Still Kicking….Sort of

With that said, Esso Watches isn’t entirely dead. After all, there is now Tagi, which still makes similar watches but with fewer claims about their supposed health benefits. On the whole, this story should remind people to be a bit more skeptical about the purchases that they choose to make, particularly when their marketing makes them sound much better than what is believable.

This is because marketing can often be a less than faithful representation of the truth, whether because the people behind the marketing genuinely believe what they are claiming or because the people behind the marketing aren’t above being misleading when that can mean a bigger profit for them. Due to this, a healthy sense of skepticism can be very useful for consumers.