Cindi - I’m not sure what you’re asking beyond what we’ve already posted here.  Anything is possible, but it seems extremely unlikely that Ethos is a product that produces any kind of mileage boost or pollutant reduction that’s worth the money.  Read the thread for additional information.  It’s only 3 pages long.

The only thing I can add at this point is that this product has apparently been around since about 1989 (the year the patent application was filed), but is still in the MLM distribution channel.  You’d think if there were something real to this product it would have made it to traditional product distribution channels by now.  And even traditional product distribution channels are hardly immune to frauds (see, e.g., the FTC actions taken against the Q-RAY bracelet, BREATH ASSURE, and SLICK 50, as scam or essentially worthless products that failed to perform as advertised).

Also, the patent (4,920,691) will expire in 3 years.  So even on the remote chance that there’s something there beyond hype, you’ll see cuthroat competition beginning in 3 years which will drive out the MLM people because MLM is a horribly cost-inefficient way to distribute products. 

From a Machiavellian perspective, if the marketing hype was slick enough to convince you, then it’s slick enough for you to get customers for the stuff.

Cindi - from the link you provided:  “It’s like gold,” [Jerry Schnitzius] adds. “By combining it with biodiesel, it reduced emissions from our trucks by 64 to 66 percent, and after we added it to the crankcase oil, it improved another 12 percent.”

So you add this concoction to the gas tank, AND you add it to the crankcase?  And merely by pouring some oil additive into the crankcase, you get a 12% reduction in some unspecified category of pollutants?  Does that not make the gauge on your B.S. Detector spin wildly?

Here is a link to an Ethos message board post where a guy posts the results he has had using Ethos in his Chevy Astro van. Half way down the page he posts before and after pictures of his on board computer that show his miles per gallon before using Ethos and after.

http://profitspotlight.com/gas4lessforum/index.php?topic=143.0

Considering the variety of factors that can affect a vehicles fuel consumption, a simple before and after photo proves absolutely nothing.

A few of the things that affect a vehicles fuel consumption…

Traffic congestion, which increases with population density.

Road gradient and road surface conditions.

My car averages about 39 mpg, but I’ve had it reading over 90 mpg by zeroing it at the top of a hill and idling all the way down it. Now there’s a before and after to turn heads!

Perhaps I should start selling bottles of engine oil cut with WD40, call it an ‘active lubricant’ and market it as ‘Drive-AL’!

You guys are just hopeless…... 

I won’t even suggest that one of you try a bottle for yourself….I just don’t think you would be willing to admit it if it really did make a difference.

Are any of you out there self-made millionaires?  How did you make your money?  Wouldn’t you agree that you have to take risks to ever get somewhere.  And if you fail, fail forward until you make your own success! 

So, let others sell the product without trying to rain on their parade…who knows, we ALL just might be surprised!

Yup, hopeless.
All you silly people pointing out reasons why these non-blinded ‘proofs’ may not be accurate, and suggesting other ideas which could account for the same effect! Damn close minded skeptics.

CyndiWilliams - 25 May 2006 07:45 AM

You guys are just hopeless…... 

I won’t even suggest that one of you try a bottle for yourself….. I just don’t think you would be willing to admit it if it really did make a difference

Are any of you out there self-made millionaires?  How did you make your money?  Wouldn’t you agree that you have to take risks to ever get somewhere.  And if you fail, fail forward until you make your own success! 

So, let others sell the product without trying to rain on their parade…who knows, we ALL just might be surprised!

ya see Cyndi, when someone posts a topic on a PUBLIC BULLETIN BOARD it is with the expectation that people will respond with their own thoughts, opinions etc.

and yeah, even if it did work, we would all lie just so we can bash this shite company again

BTW, I have made exactly one other post on this topic merely stating that multiple factors affect a vehicles fuel consumption and was even kind enough to supply examples. Your decision to mass reply with comments such as “You guys are just hopeless” and “I just don’t think you would be willing to admit it if it really did make a difference”  does not paint you in a flattering light.

Now, I was just being playful with “you guys are just hopeless” comment.

But I do understand both sides of this story. 

But honestly, do you think anyone in this group would truly be willing to concede that it works? I mean, if someone tracks their mileage for a month without the product, then uses it over a period of a month, and their average is better, then couldn’t we then conclude that the product is working?  And if so, would the skeptics be able to agree?  Or would they continue to look for other reasons to discount the results?

That would depend on the conditions of the study. You can understand, I’m sure, the necessity of then tracking that whole list of factors that Chuck listed, plus being sure that no-one (on either side of the debate) had tampered with anything…

Skepticism isn’t a close-minded denial of new things, but a request that (reliable) proof be shown before something (especially a measurable claim like this one) is accepted as the truth.

CyndiWilliams - 25 May 2006 07:45 AM

You guys are just hopeless…... 

I won’t even suggest that one of you try a bottle for yourself….I just don’t think you would be willing to admit it if it really did make a difference.

Cyndi, I don’t believe personal testimonies, I believe real evidence, so show some. Why should I give you or any other twerp my money on the basis that you say I’ll not regret it? The onus is on you to convice me of the benefits, not on me to be convinced. BTW, I know for a fact that drinking two bottles of hotsauce makes you smarter and more attractive, and I have lots of letters from smart and attractive people thanking me for telling them this amazing fact. With such compelling proof, I expect you’ll be buying three dozen this evening, yes?

Are any of you out there self-made millionaires?  How did you make your money?  Wouldn’t you agree that you have to take risks to ever get somewhere.

As I remember, P. T. Barnum made quite a bit of money too. In fact it’s considerably easier to get rich if you take no account of the law, the truth, your marks or anything other than your income. The only risk in selling snake-oil is getting caught!

How about the manufacturers taking a risk?

Maybe getting a reputable and independant organsation to test the product in properly controlled conditions? I mean they have nothing to fear, they’ve got all these testimonials to how dramatically this stuff works!

Or how about asking JREF to help design and conduct the tests? Seeing those “Doubting Thomas’s” eat their words, it’s gotta be worth it.

Whatever, don’t just sit on a big pile of subjective and uncorroborated reports and shout ‘proven’ as loudly as possible. That’s what hucksters do. Oh and hotsauce really improves engine performance too, just put it with the oil!

And if you fail, fail forward until you make your own success!

Rage, rage against the dying of the light!

So, let others sell the product without trying to rain on their parade…who knows, we ALL just might be surprised!

Why? If the product is a waste of money, we should let you recoup the losses of your own stupidity by exploiting other people and “the Devil take the hindmost”?

Multi-level marketing especially has been at the heart of a number of outright frauds. Drawing attention to that fact, and to the deficit of independant verification of the product that may contribute to the future failure of such an MLM scheme, isn’t raining on a parade, it’s shining a light where it’s needed (if not wanted).

If the vicious little pyramid scheme you’ve bought into can’t take a little criticism then there really is something wrong.