Every so often a product comes along that is so amazing, it changes the world.
Is Flex Tape one of those products?
Well, that's what they want you to think.
The reality is a little more down-to-earth.
If you want to know the untold truth of Flex Tape, stick around.
Flex Tape pitchman Phil Swift has been in the marketing and direct sales industry since
the 1980s.
And his brother Alan, whom he's worked with on the Flex Seal and Flex Tape family of products,
has almost three decades' worth of experience in business administration.
Together, the pair founded Swift Response LLC, which specializes in easy to use, high-performance
products for common household problems, you know, like all those desperate times when
your boat gets shot by a cannon.
"Holy bleep!"
When Flex Tape commercials first hit the airwaves, they arrived with some major league boasts.
If you believed the hype, then this product looked like something miraculous, a real game
changer.
Naturally, since it became available, YouTubers, consumer advocacy groups, and news outlets
have set to work fact-checking Flex Tape's marketing claims, and it turns out, there
might not be as much to this product as they want you to think.
Which is not to say it doesn't work.
A Texas Fox affiliate tried Flex Tape on a leaky pipe and attempted to seal a leak underwater,
and achieved the exact same success you see on the commercials.
So that's great.
But Inside Edition tried duplicating the sawed-in-half boat trick with only limited success.
The boat leaked, but reportedly remained seaworthy, or at least, seaworthy enough for the news
segment.
Other YouTubers had even worse luck with their sawed-in-half-boat test, their boat actually
just sank.
Flex Seal's response?
They told Inside Edition,
"When the product doesn't perform as expected, it's typically because the product was not
applied correctly."
So basically, you should totally rely on Flex Seal tape to put your boat back together while
braving shark-infested waters.
But remember, if it doesn't work, Flex Seal's not taking the blame for it.
Some people can't stop wondering: If Flex Tape can stand up to a high-pressure water
leak and make a rowboat seaworthy, can it also stop a bullet?
The answer is "no," but that hasn't stopped some people from trying it out anyway.
Deflecting gunfire is one thing Phil Swift has never said his product can do, but the
outlandish idea of Flex Tape potentially being bulletproof has still seemed to take hold
among some consumers.
Many YouTubers have decided to put that notion to the test.
In one example, the channel Demolition Ranch outfitted a test dummy with armor made from
cardboard and Flex Tape.
During the test, a single layer of Flex Tape failed to stop a bullet from a 22 caliber
pistol.
So the armor was made thicker, and thicker, and thicker.
After 60 layers also failed to stop a bullet, they upped the count to 80 layers, and at
that point the bullet was finally thwarted.
So now we all know: The only way this stuff could help you stop a bullet is in a gunfight
at the Flex Tape factory.
Creative people on the internet have proven that Flex Tape products are good for so many
other things besides putting vehicles back together.
As many videos on social media have shown, Flex Tape can be used for everything from
subduing a bodybuilder to exfoliating skin.
Other people have used Flex Tape to build unbreakable walls, which could really come
in handy if you've run out of wood, bricks, or metal.
So far no one seems to have tried doing anything insanely dangerous with the product, unless
you count eating it, which Phil Swift wouldn't advise.
"Some people think they can eat the Flex Seal family of products.
You can't.
Don't eat em."
Based on what we've seen so far of people's actual experiences with Flex Taped boats,
you probably shouldn't try staying on the open water in a patched-up vessel too long.
It's a quick fix, not a permanent one.
In February 2017, the Flex Tape brand had one of its most triumphant moments yet when
the product came through in a pinch.
NASCAR racer Garrett Smithley, driving the number zero Chevy Camaro for JD Motorsports,
crashed during a race at Daytona, and was badly in need of a 5-minutes-or-less repair.
Fortunately, according to the team, there was plenty of Flex Tape on hand to help solve
the problem.
After Smithley's car was repaired, he went on to finish the race, coming in eighth place.
Of course, it's an awfully convenient story, and good advertising for the company if true.
If it is true, then maybe some rules need to be changed on the racetrack.
Should drivers really have access to such supernatural performance enhancers?
It doesn't seem fair to us.
"I don't think we woulda finished the race without the Flex Tape, and it ultimately helped
us to a top ten finish."