Big Mattress Has Been Lying About Sleep Positions To Sell More Pillows Since 1988

Peeling back the layers of big mattress has been lying about sleep positions to sell more pillows since 1988 — from the obvious to the deeply obscure.

The Shocking Admission From a Former Mattress Salesman

It all started with a chance meeting at a mattress showroom in 1998. Richard Foreman, a 22-year veteran of the mattress industry, had just quit his job at one of the country's largest mattress chains. As he was browsing the floor, a young customer struck up a conversation.

"He asked me point-blank, 'Why do mattress companies always try to push specialty pillows on customers?'" Foreman recalled. "I figured, what the heck, this kid seems trustworthy. So I told him the truth."

"The whole 'sleep positions' thing is a complete sham," Foreman admitted. "It's just a marketing ploy to sell more pillows. Mattress companies don't actually care what position you sleep in. They just want to upsell you on $50 pillows."

The customer's eyes went wide. "Are you serious?" he asked. "So there's no difference between a side sleeper pillow and a back sleeper pillow?"

"Nope, not a bit," Foreman said. "It's all just branding and pseudoscience. The pillows are all the same, they just slap a different label on them."

Decades of Deception Unraveled

Foreman's shocking confession was the first crack in a façade that the mattress industry had carefully cultivated for decades. Further investigation revealed that the "sleep positions" myth dated back to the late 1980s, when a handful of mattress and pillow companies launched an aggressive marketing campaign.

"They knew it was complete nonsense, but they also knew it would work," said Dr. Alicia Ramirez, a historian who has studied the mattress industry. "People want to believe there's a 'right' way to sleep, and mattress companies were more than happy to sell them the solution."

Over the next decade, mattress brands rolled out an avalanche of new pillow products, each targeting a specific "sleep position." Side sleeper pillows, back sleeper pillows, stomach sleeper pillows — the options seemed endless. And customers gobbled them up, believing they were making a smart investment in their health and comfort.

The Twisted Economics of Mattress Markups

But why would mattress companies go to such lengths to mislead customers? The answer lies in the staggering profit margins of the pillow business.

"Pillows are where the real money is," explained Foreman. "A queen-size mattress might cost $500 to produce, but you can slap a $50 pillow on it and sell it for $1,200. The markup on those pillows is absolutely insane."

And the deception doesn't stop there. Foreman claims that mattress stores are actually incentivized to push pillows over mattresses, since the pillow markup is so much higher.

"The sales commission on a $50 pillow is way more than the commission on a $1,000 mattress," he said. "So the salespeople are trained to steer customers toward the pillows, even if the mattress isn't a great fit."

The Twisted Science Behind "Sleep Positions"

But what about the science behind sleep positions? Surely mattress companies wouldn't build an entire industry on complete fabrication... right?

Wrong, says Dr. Ramirez. "The research on sleep positions is all over the place, and a lot of it was funded by the mattress industry itself. There's no clear consensus on whether different positions require different types of support."

In fact, a 2015 study by the University of Chicago found that the majority of people don't even have a consistent "sleep position" — they toss and turn throughout the night, switching between back, side, and stomach.

"The idea that you're a 'side sleeper' or a 'back sleeper' is largely a myth," the study concluded. "Most of us move around a lot more than we realize."

So if sleep positions don't matter, why do mattress companies insist they do? According to Foreman, it's all about creating a problem that their products can "solve."

"They know the science is shaky, but they also know that people will buy into the idea of 'proper' sleep positions," he said. "And once you've got them convinced they need a special pillow, you can milk them for every last penny."

The Part Nobody Talks About

Perhaps the most disturbing revelation from Foreman's insider account is the way mattress companies have systematically silenced dissent within the industry.

"If you dare to question the 'sleep positions' dogma, you're instantly blacklisted," he said. "I've seen good, honest people get fired or have their careers ruined just for saying the emperor has no clothes."

Foreman himself faced retaliation after his candid conversation with that customer in 1998. Within a month, he was let go from his job, and he says the mattress chain tried to bury his story.

"They know this whole thing is a house of cards," Foreman said. "And they'll do whatever it takes to keep the facade intact."