‘Einstein’s brain for sale’: online China vendor claims bizarre virtual cerebrum makes you smarter, sells 20,000 units at less than 10 US cents each
- Experts say strange virtual brain product can work because it gives buyers ‘confidence and pleasure’
- Some on mainland social media claim it works while many more ridicule product and question IQ of people who buy it
A cut-price, brain-power-improving “product” marketed as “Einstein’s brain” which is bizarrely instilling confidence and joy in those who buy it has gone viral in China.
People on the online shopping platform Taobao said potential customers are told that after they pay a nominal fee they will develop a brain like the famous, German-born theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein, according to the Yangtze Evening News.
“Our product is virtual. After you pay for it, what you need to do is to wait to become smart. Usually after one night’s sleep you will find the Einstein brain has already grown in your head,” an advertisement for the product says.
Taobao, the mainland’s leading shopping website, is owned by the Alibaba Group which also owns the South China Morning Post.
More than 20,000 customers have bought the “brain”, which is being sold with an image of Einstein. Prices range from just 0.1 to one yuan (10 US cents).
“It’s very effective. When I took a test after buying it, I found I could solve all the problems in the examination,” one customer said.
