But if I donate to a different charity I do not get a bracelet that shows others around me what a good person I am.

Go to the beach, collect 2 pounds of plastic, feel good and save 40 dollar.

As long as they are cleaning the ocean its fine for me

Geez...... let me guess, the only way we can clean up the ocean is paying more taxes to politicians who don't know how to balance a check book?

“Hey I got 20 dollars laying around” Can’t relate lmao

"Prove me wrong!" 1 month later- receives defamation lawsuit from company lawyers 😂 Please make a video if that happens. We will all be rooting for you!

I think they are actually very smart. The bracelets are beautiful! So more demand for them= more trash taken out of the ocean= more bracelets= more sales and then it continues!

Does the end justify the means? I think so. We are drowning in plastic and it's killing our oceans.

Scam or not, someday bracelets will find itself back to the ocean and forests

I'm more curious about where all the plastic goes they collect...it can't all be made into bracelets

Why is it wrong if they can make some profit as well as cleaning the ocean? You did willingly buy the bracelet didn’t you

Don't care, they're cleaning.

The second I've heard that buying one bracelet cleans 1 pound of trash, I thought it was a scam. It is ridiculous. 40 000 dollars to clean about a ton of garbage?!? With 15 friends and 500 euro to hire a truck, and buy trash bags and gloves, we cleaned 3 tons of waste one weekend from a river bed and we had few bucks left for beers. Invest some time to clean in your community and you will help much more. You will also bring awareness. Hell, even the waste from your bracelet's package will be almost as much as the waste they will supposedly clean with you 20 buck! What these two sell is just clear conscience.

criticism ≠ hate. he's just raising good points to consider before buying the bracelets, he's not openly and mindlessly bashing the company. the decision to support 4ocean and buy the bracelet is yours nonetheless.

I’m just grateful that they are cleaning..

imagine being mad because they clean the ocean

Who would have thought that two chads who “Took a surf trip to Bali” might be using the ocean as a way to scam money

I feel like a pound of trash being removed is too little for twently dollars

At least they clean, while were just sitting here and don't give a damn actually maybe its just me but like srsly at least there cleaning it *_man just leave them alone_*

I could go to Haiti and pay someone 20$ to clean up 100 pounds of trash instead.

One thing is for sure, the oceans will be polluted by people losing their "4ocean" bracelets while swimming

I live in a developing country in south east asia, our minimum wage is only $1/hr and looking at our ocean condition, you'll pick at least 10lbs of trash per hour.

I've only just stumbled upon your comment on 4Ocean Cleanup's work (this video). I like the way you analyse the available information, and I love how 4Ocean released a video 3 days later to update the public about their vessel - most likely due to this video and their response. I hope people keep making companies accountable by analysing their interests and claims, like you did here. Thank you for doing this, and posting the update on their response later (a day after their update).

I just want to say what a blessing this company is. My order was wrong and within 5 seconds of sending them a message on Facebook, they had made it right and let my kids keep the bracelets that were wrong. I want to say that the mission of cleaning the ocean has inspired my kids to take it upon themselves to pick up litter that they see and try really hard at keeping their earth clean. It has led them to research ocean life, ocean pollution, and gotten them to using technology in a way for self led learning and for that I call it a win! I would like to know how much this dude is making to ramble on and repeat himself so what’s your salary?

The KZfaq algorithm showed me this. The 4 ocean definitely see this and respond.

I have images in my head of a pelican asphyxiated with a 4Ocean bracelet.

Bruh they’re cleaning the ocean it’s not a scam. Are YOU cleaning the ocean at all?

This is great and happy to see how you clarify the position as I believe that many believe this is a not for profit. I happen to be from Boca Raton (now in NYC) and flew back to interview for the marketing head position. Absolutely love the idea of the company but had hesitations about the clarity. As a marketer and Surfer I would have loved the clarification rock solid prior to getting to this point. While waiting for my interview with the newly installed CEO something made me uncomfortable - a person entered their office and the front desk and asked if he could donate money to the company.....Clearly this person was not aware of how the company is run. I have worked for 3 #1 companies and felt this would need to be addressed immediately and this interview happened a few years ago. Great job!

They’re smart, they know about the teen girls wanting to save the earth so they make a trendy bracelet. 🙈🙊

I saw this commercial yesterday and thought “I wonder when someone will make a video about how this is a scam”. Thanks fbi guy

Regardless of whether they’re making money they’re doing good. We need more of this I couldn’t give three of people are greeting with money but are cleaning the world up it needs to be done.

Brand awareness, good funding, and a solid business model will clean up far more ocean plastic than a starving and disorganized nonprofit

Imagine they're in the ship and just like Sailor : "Captain ! Look ! A plastic !" Captain : "Hold on kiddo, the bracelet ain't selling so we ain't picking it up" Lmao

you could probably just pick up a pound of rubbish in the streets easily.

this is such an underrated channel. i absolutely love it.

So Hey, Dayne - great in depth video raising a lot of legitimate questions. Well researched, and I applaud anyone who spends this much time looking into a newer company's business practices. I watched the entire video, and then read the kind rebuttal from Cory (below) who does marketing for 4Ocean. Sounds like a legitimate company trying to do some good in the world. Now - here's what I am asking both of you. I saw a piece on either 20-20 or CBS Good Morning, or 60 minutes - they all blend together so I can't recall which it was - please forgive me. HOWEVER - this piece was enlightening. It was mostly interviews with people who run the recycling centers all over the nation, telling the interviewer & consumers just how little of their recycling done in earnest (our household has 2 bins of sorted recycling every month, to 1 bin of trash for an example) and showing frightening videos of where these huge bales of supposed recycled material actually goes. The piece went on to explain that several years ago the countries that used to accept our recycled materials started refusing to allow them shipped to their countries. So...we now load tons of baled recycled material and ship it off to Indonesia, or Thailand, or other countries and pay them to accept it. Then, those same countries dump all that plastic and supposed "recyclable material" into their oceans. That is partially why 4Ocean shows those videos of hundreds of paid, or unpaid, volunteers picking up tons of trash from white sand beaches - these countries aren't processing this material WE are shipping them. They are dumping it and then getting paid to clean it up again! Seems like a huge vicious cycle and one that won't solve itself until every human on this earth stops using products that have to be thrown away. Thank you both for your comments and in-depth look at this global problem. We should all just clean up what we see thrown on the ground or in the water. The earth will thank us for it and be a better place for our kids to live!

One thing that you did not question is who manufactures the bracelets ? Are they manufactured in a 3rd world country by child labor for a few pennies each? I would say there is a great possibility of that.

So basically you pay for their surfing trips and they pick up some trash while on vacation?

For a smaller channel, this is actually an extremely well put together video.

It’s situations like this that makes me worry if there are any organization trustworthy enough for me to cooperate in. Whether they’re in it for helping the planet instead of the money.

That would explain why their videos start with "how can a single bracelet save the ocean?" the first thing is the bracelet, then, the cleaning.

I mean they couldn’t sell the bracelets as a nonprofit but they could offer them as a thank you gift for all donations over $20

I saw the commercial 10 minutes ago and was prompted to the website to check the bracelets. It said somewhere in my reading than less than 5% of the material used in the bracelet is the actual trash that they have salvaged from the ocean. Thank you this was a very good video to watch before making my decision about a purchase.

When I watched this a 4ocean advertisement came up

Danye, I'm training to be an officer on board ships and so I know a few things about ships. There are websites which track the location of nearly all ships (those fitted with an AIS transponder). An example of this is the well known "Marine Traffic" website. You simply go onto the site, type in the ship's name and it will show you it's latest known position and some other information. Now, I can't find a single image/article which clearly states the 4Ocean ship's name or IMO number. It is not named "Ocean Plastic Recovery Vessel." I also cannot find any details on what the vessel used to be named before 4Ocean purchased it (you can use the previous names to find the new name). Regarding IMO numbers - all IMO registered vessels have an IMO number which is usually painted onto the stern of the vessel and somewhere near the bridge. Every picture or video I have found show no traces of this number which is supposed to be easily visible from port, starboard and the stern. Their vessel cannot be tracked because it is operating under a different name and all of it's identification features have been hidden. The ship "does not exist" with the details known to the public and is likely not operating at all. Edit: Additional information "The regulation requires AIS to be fitted aboard all ships of 300 gross tonnage and upwards engaged on international voyages, cargo ships of 500 gross tonnage and upwards not engaged on international voyages and all passenger ships irrespective of size. The requirement became effective for all ships by 31 December 2004." (SOLAS Chapter V - Regulation 19). Basically, a vessel of this size is legally required to have an operational AIS transponder on board, meaning that it would be trackable if we knew the ship's name.

If you got 20 dollars lying around, pick up a bag of trash at the beach yourself. And buy beer for the 20 bucks.

I love how 4Ocean is the only one with an Ad on Google to make their ocean pollution company the top of the search results.

We need to send these guys to just plain clean that famous body of water that’s just floating garbage

I've actually done 2 cleanups with this group, and we pulled hundreds of pounds of trash from the water, and they gave us a bracelet as a thank you. There are volunteer cleanups, there is work being done, and the ocean is being helped.

4ocean sounds convincing BUT the founders look very suspicious to me lol. The look like they are out to get our money!

Any business needs to make money, plus this business is picking up trash around the world. People like you make 4ocean look horrible..

When I clean up my private beach every week I find a lot of those 4Ocean bracelets.

The funniest part is those bracelets beads will all eventually probably end up back in the ocean eventually

I remember going to the 4ocean website after wanting to find ways to actually help with cleanups rather than buying a bracelet and I couldn't find anything.

ive seen their ads a couple times and I literally thought the bracelets would be a dollar or 2.

I like this guy! It’s okay to be skeptical because asking questions is important to finding answers!

Shouldn't we, at some point, think of reducing plastic production!?

All 4Ocean does is sell people a good conscience. They don't really make any impact on cleanup or recovery efforts and have a bad habit of using local programs to boost their own sales. I live in Florida, where if you can believe it the ocean is kinda important for both our ecosystems and economy. I'm sad to say that as this company got more popular, our local efforts saw a downturn in support because, after all, the people buying the bracelets already did their part in their minds. And every time there's a spike in 4Ocean media attention, there's a visible drop in our donations. TL;DR if you want to actually make a difference, either donate to well-established charities or do something that we desperately need more of and donate your time and a pair of hands. A couple dozen people cleaning an estuary does infinitely more good than giving $20 to some big cleanup effort.

Even with cheap labor, boats are stupendously expensive to own and operate. Boats like the ones shown in this video could easily cost $60,000 each, and use a few hundred dollars’ worth of fuel per trip (a lot of boats will only run on 93 octane, which isn’t cheap nowadays). Then there’s all the maintenance expenses, lifejackets and equipment, crew training, boat licenses and insurance, and possibly even the need to acquire permits to be allowed to do cleanup operations within coastal waters. They also have to hire competent people to man radios, radar sets and charts, to be sure no-one gets run over by a passing cargo ship.

I really have absolutely no idea how this video got on my phone. Just started playing. Ironic because I was going to get these for myself and my girlfriend. Glad I checked it out just incase!

Ironically, I literally found a 4ocean bracelet on the beach in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. That's where they will all end up. Lose lose.

When the ad start: "How can a single bracelet save the ocean" I always say "You cant" then skip the ad LOL

At least you got your bracelet! I sent in the $20. over a year ago and got nothing. Thanks for posting this! They are selling T-shirts? PS. I like the looks of the bracelet, and it could be used to inspire others to give or become aware, ask questions, discuss...🤗

Good report there Danye. Thanks for the information.

Ad: "how can a single bracelet clean the ocean?..." Me: "it cant." skip ad. I seen this ad so much, that I think ads are costing them more than cleaning the ocean... Seriously, 20$ for 1$ bracelet? for 19$ I would go and pick up 0,5kg of trash myself.

“I thought ‘hey I’ve got 20 dollars sitting around’ and I bought two of the bracelets right then and there” What kind of 20 dollars is that?

Thanks for the review. You are really balanced and fair. I also noticed that CEOs who are in nonprofits make a huge salary will the mission makes pennies on the dollar.

I have full faith in 4Ocean, but it is nice to see that somebody is asking the tough questions that we're all afraid to get answers for. Your skepticism is acknowledged and respected, and I fully applaud the logical direction in which you take it (to simply do more research). Also y'all in the comments have gotta chill. This guy made it absolutely clear that he respects 4Ocean and does not think it was a scam. All he's explaining is that he became skeptical, looked up his answers, and got most but not all of them. His issue was with transparency, not with what 4Ocean is actually doing.

I'm from Indonesia (Bali to be exact) and I have no idea about 4ocean until those bracelet ads popping up on KZfaq. I've heard bunch of other organizations that actually done beach clean up around here but not 4ocean. Maybe it's just me. I wonder if there are any locals like me tho

looks like the algorithm has blessed you, my dude. very happy to have stumbled upon you - i love your humor and wit. and it is clear that you put a lot of effort into your videos! looking forward to seeing more

4Ocean:*watches this video 4Ocean:*TRIGGERED

thanks for the detailed analysis! Never watched one of your videos before, keep up the work! I gotta say: Even if they'd keep 75% of the money and use 25% for their operations I think there would still be worse ways to spend 20 bucks. Not saying I'm one of their fanboys, but I own 3 bracelets, basically bought 1 each year so if they use even a little bit of that money for a good cause I'm happy. I like the bracelets anyway.

dude , i'd clean for 5 dollars per pound of trash if i'm getting paid 20 dollars per pound of trash ,i'm probably never gonna go look for a job

I got a 4ocean ad on this lmao

I'm glad you made this video I was literally watching a video on 4 ocean the other day and I got a little paranoid about it because it seemed to me like they were making it seem too easy for the amount of money they were getting it just spell scam on it

I just seen the same commercial so I looked them up on KZfaq instead of going to their website… and what do I see… 4Ocean scandal! It looked so promising, but you’re right we need to see their work in real time!!

5ocean. mission statement: to clean up and recycle all the 4ocean bracelets & misleading ads in the environment.

$20 for a measley pound is what stopped me bothering donating

Whoa, I got an ad about collecting trash before it goes into the Ocean.

Great video. Wow - I feel totally duped and my octopus bracelet hasn’t even arrived yet. The above “transparency” response from the company has had the opposite effect of its intention...

Just hire me. Id be gladly collect 5kg of plastic for 40$

They should GPS the boat with a live link. Smacks of a Fyre organisation

I mean they’re cleaning the ocean that’s all that matters if they get some profit for doing good stuff it’s whatever

a ton of non profits sell bracelets/trinkets/tshirts. remember those livestrong bracelets everyone was wearing in the early 2000s?

Idc if it’s a business. This is how the world works. They are helping, and most people aren’t.

Their names are Chad and Brody? Ya, they're just lining their pockets.

Your $40 went to some cheese burgers 🍔 and movie 🍿 rentals. But hey, the ocean did get cleaned :)

This was a thought provoking interesting and fair assessment. I agree with Danye. I too was intrigued when I first saw the 4Ocean TV commercials, so I went to their website to learn more. It never set well with me that that they are a for-profit company and not a charity/non-profit. I think cleaning the oceans is absolutely essential and more importantly reducing the cause of the enormous waste entering the oceans. If they were a non-profit I would happily donate to their cause, but 4Ocean as a for-profit company never made sense to me and didn’t seem right. Aside from that they have no product or service to sell, apart from selling the bracelets and other items that fund their mission. How many repeat customers are they going to get? How many bracelets can fit on one’s arm. I have charities that I have been to donating to for years. I donate to them because I believe in their cause, want to contribute to society and am blessed to have the means to do. I believe 4Ocean could have sustained itself as a charity.

Hmm, things have taken a turn for the *mildly* interesting. A couple of videos about the Ocean Plastic Recovery Vessel, including the news report at 9:42, have been made private on the 4ocean channel (see description for dead link). Not saying what that means, but it probably means something, right?

Just the sheer budget for online ads is a red flag. I've worked for local and international non-profits and we NEVER even come close to 4ocean online ad budget. Never. Even UN agencies don't have that much budget allocated for consumer-targeted marketing. Not that these non-profits, the big ones, don't have funding to allocate, it's that the funds are better used for programs and projects that actually have an impact on their cause. Edit: Please donate to non-profits instead. Visit their websites, there's usually a pie chart at the bottom showing what percent of the funds go to projects/programs and what percent goes to overhead costs. Some have 90% going to projects, to beneficiaries, to the cause you actually want to support.

The first 3 minutes and I already got my senior project in the bag

That was an excellent review/overview. I purchased two bracelets yesterday and have been wondering if I was scammed. Afterall... $20 for only one pound if trash? Hopefully, a large watch agency will give them more scrutiny and pressure them to be more forthcoming about where the money is going.

I've seen the ads and thought to myself "1 pound? Kinda skimpy for $20"

Great video. You don’t make accusations but rather you throw food for thought about the organization. You’re bringing accountability and transparency about organizations that claim to care deeply about important issues. Thank you.

I emailed them about the OPR Vessel, and they sold IT!! As a marine Engineer I knew that it would happen. They didn’t realize the cost to get it going and get it in compliance with the USCG and ABS. 4Ocean should let everyone know about it.

Thank you for your insight. Like you I was excited to buy bracelets,at the same time get that do good feeling at the same time. I was getting ready to get the monthly subscription,but wanted to know more before making that commitment. Did some research,and was pleased it got good ratings from the BBB , but thanks to your Video I was able get additional information and make a more educated and informed decision . Thank you.

I just rolled my eyes when I saw the 20 dollar bracelet made from trash.

Their entire business model is nothing but a hollow attempt at environmentalism. Creating those braclets, packaging them and mailing them out to people is going to offset whatever meager amount of plastic they decide to pick up. As the video states 1lb of plastic is nothing. In the long run it's going to be negligible compared to the environmental cost of shipping tens of thousands of braclets to people all over the world. If you really want to help the environment get in touch with local organizations that do regular cleanups and go get your hands dirty.

I bought a bracelet and intend on buying more. I do my part to clean up where I can but I am only one person. I say these guys are doing the right thing. They obviously love the ocean and use it so why not do something to give back to it. The inhabitants of the ocean can't speak for themselves but if they could I am very sure they would be sending these people a huge thank you! Thank you 4ocean I wear this bracelet everyday and even in my photo shoots and film projects.

Love it. I am a general contractor and business owner. You have to make money to stay open and you have to eat and pay rent. Good points in the comments. I love this mission. I want to be part of it here in Texas.