Why wouldn't it work? It's hard to hold either a cigarette or a fork when you're clutching your still-bleeding ear, whimpering in pain.
It's the same way the rest of acupuncture works - if you stick pins in a guy every time he complains, pretty soon he stops complaining.
I wouldn't be surprised if real acupuncture could be effective for appetite suppression or quitting smoking, but it si contrary to the theories of real acupuncture (and concrete biological/medical science) that permanent installation of the "needle" would have a similar effect to periodic brief acupuncture treatment. The body quickly adjusts to the presence of an acupuncture needle, and stops responding at that site (though secondary effects may continue for days or weeks afterwards).
Having undergone electroacupuncture in the past, I can attest to this effect at least in that technique. It uses a TENS unit which generates a small electric current (these are also used in allopathic medicine) attached to the needles. At first you can feel a tingling at the puncture site (sensation strength depends how strong the current is set for), but after lying there for 20 minutes, even a tingling sensation strong enough to be bordering on pain at the outset has diminished to where you can't feel it at all. Your nerves figure out that the thing they were generating responses to is unimportant/unchangeable and no longer needs to be reported to the brain.