The trend for selling wristbands to raise money for good causes was started by Lance Armstrong, pictured below, who overcame testicular cancer to become winner of the Tour de France a record seven times in succession. His yellow wrist bands raised awareness and funding for cancer research.

There are two different types of wristband: those that represent an aim to raise awareness about a certain cause and those that represent a particular charity. The former aims to raise funds to help increase public consciousness towards a particular movement or belief, such as stopping racism in football. The latter aims to raise money directly by selling the wristbands.

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Buying ei-ther type of wristband should be seen as a direct donation to the respec-tive cause.

Unfortunately, unscrupulous opportunists have now jumped on the bandwagon. Not all wristbands help charities. Some "fake" wristbands are sold with the deliberate intention of misleading the public into believing that they are legitimate, and the profits don't actually benefit worthy causes at all.

There are several ways to tell if a wristband is fake. The most obvious is that they are of a different colour and a poorer quality. Authentic wristbands often feature a charity logo along the side, which would not be featured on a fake band.