Nike and Lance Armstrong popularized the recent use of colored silicone rubber as a material for producing sports bracelets through the Yellow Livestrong band. Its success has led to the use of these ‘awareness’ bracelets as low cost tools for information campaigns and charity projects. These sports bracelets are also known otherwise as ‘baller id bands’, ‘wristbands’ or ‘baller bands’.
More recently, wristbands, often made of silicone, are worn to demonstrate the wearer’s support of a cause or charitable organization, similar to awareness ribbons. Such wristbands are sometimes called symbands to distinguish them from other types of wristbands.
One of the first charitable organizations to make use of silicone wristbands as a way of demonstrating support for a cause was the yellow Livestrong wristband created in 2004 by the Lance Armstrong Foundation. By early 2005, symbands became popular with many charities, such as Make Poverty History and the BBC’s Beat Bullying campaign.