Supporters of Usana Health Sciences have suggested that Usana’s invitation to ring the Nasdaq closing bell earlier this week somehow gives the company credibility. As if Nasdaq is somehow endorsing Usana, its business model, and the questionable integrity of the company’s management.

The New York Post ran a story last year about the Nasdaq bell ringers.

On how and why the bell is rung:

Every weekday morning at 9:30, a group of executives from one or another of the companies listed for trading on Nasdaq gathers before a camera at a midtown Manhattan TV studio.

Then, while standing behind a stage prop designed to suggest a balcony above a trading floor, the group begins waving at the camera while a soundtrack of bustling crowd noises plays in the background.

Welcome to Nasdaq’s make-believe version of the New York Stock Exchange ceremony known as “ringing the opening bell” which is aired live on CNBC, followed by a similar closing-bell ceremony each afternoon.

In reality, Nasdaq is an all-electronic network that disseminates stock quotes via computer to subscribing members, so it needs no bell to mark the start or end of daily trading. Nor does it need or have a trading floor teeming with workers, or a balcony for visiting dignitaries.

It only pretends to have these things, and CNBC plays along with the ruse.

On how a company gets a chance to ring the bell:

On its Web site, Nasdaq says the CEOs of its bell-ringing companies belong to the top echelon of the “world’s business leaders,” implying that it is both a great honor and a special achievement to be selected to ring the bell. The unstated but obvious subtext to the message: that Nasdaq’s bell-ringer companies make great investments.

A Nasdaq official claimed last week that companies selected for bell-ringing duty are put through a special pre-selection vetting process having tougher standards than those required of ordinary Nasdaq-listed companies.

But when the official was pressed for specifics, the only such additional standard turned out to be a minimum market capitalization “guideline” of at least $500 million for those selected to ring the opening bell, and $250 million for the closing bell.

According to the official, Nasdaq has the right to waive the guidelines when it wants to. A review by The Post of the more than 500 companies that have rung the bell for Nasdaq since January of 2005 reveals that the waiver right is exercised quite frequently.

The story goes on to detail a few really bad companies who had the opportunity to ring the bell. I say they can add Usana to the list.