My Pillow

My Pillow booth at the Minnesota State Fair in 2014.

My Pillow was founded by Mike Lindell of Minnesota.[11][12] To help fund the development of the pillow, Lindell sold four bars he owned in Carver County, Minnesota, and mortgaged his house.[2][6] At first, Lindell hand-sewed the pillows himself and handled all the sales and distribution with help from his family.[6]

The first My Pillow was sold in 2005 at a kiosk in Eden Prairie Center, a mall in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.[6] For the next six years, the company struggled while selling at mall kiosks, state fairs, and trade shows.[13]

The company's success took off after an infomercial in October 2011.[14] The 30-minute show was shot in one day in front of a live studio audience and cost $500,000 to produce and launch.[15] As of September 2013, the infomercial was running an average of 200 times per day on local and national networks. Since it first aired, My Pillow has sold more than 30 million pillows and grown from 50 employees to over 1,500.[5][15][16]

In July 2015, Lindell and My Pillow sponsored an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for the world's largest pillow fight at a St. Paul Saints baseball game. The fight featured 6,261 participants, beating a previous record of 4,201.[17]

In May 2018, Lindell and My Pillow again broke the Guinness World Record for the world's largest pillow fight, this time at the evangelistic PULSE Movement event held at the U.S. Bank Stadium, after Lindell led over 45,000 people in prayer.[18][19][20]

My Pillow opened its first retail store in Burnsville, Minnesota, in 2012 and, as of 2017, had grown to 17 locations in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska.[24] My Pillow products are also offered on QVC, at major retailers, trade shows, and from the My Pillow website.[14][25]

In March 2020, Fox affiliate KMSP-TV reported that founder Mike Lindell had announced that 75% of the company's production was shifting to making cotton face masks to donate to health care workers for use during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and that "Masks will not be available to public to purchase",[26] though the cotton masks later appeared for sale on the My Pillow website.[27]

In April 2016, a class action lawsuit was proposed for the pillows being falsely advertised, among the complaints being that Lindell is marketed as a "Sleep Expert," despite having no board certification or special training in sleep medicine.[7] The Better Business Bureau received 220 complaints regarding the company from 2013 to 2016.[29]

In August 2016, the New York State Attorney General's office charged that My Pillow failed to collect and remit over $500,000 in sales tax. The company denied any wrongdoing but agreed to pay $1.1 million in settlement.[30]

On November 1, 2016, My Pillow agreed to pay $1 million ($995,000 in civil penalties and $100,000 to California charities benefiting homeless persons and victims of domestic violence) to settle a false advertising lawsuit brought in Alameda County Superior Court by Alameda County and eight other California counties.[31] The lawsuit challenged the company's marketing claims. This included claims without proof that its products could help people with fibromyalgia, restless leg syndrome and sleep apnea.[31] In the past, the company had published testimonials claiming its products could ease symptoms of cerebral palsy, acid reflux and menopause.[31] As part of the settlement, the company was banned "from making claims in California that its pillows can cure or treat diseases and their symptoms without a human trial to back up the statements."[31] "In addition, My Pillow must stop promoting itself as the 'official pillow' of the National Sleep Foundation because it failed to disclose its financial connection with the foundation to consumers."[30]

In November 2017, the lawsuit, which challenged the appropriateness of the marketing, packaging, and sale of My Pillow products, including health claims about the product, buy one get one promotions, and the use of third party endorsements and logos, was settled.[8]

In January 2021, Dominion Voting Systems threatened to sue Lindell over his claims of widespread fraud involving their machines,[32] later found to be baseless. Dominion eventually followed through on their threats and filed a $1.3 billion lawsuit against MyPillow and Lindell on February 22, 2021, with Dominion CEO John Poulos stating:

Despite repeated warnings and efforts to share the facts with him, Mr. Lindell has continued to maliciously spread false claims about Dominion, each time giving empty assurances that he would come forward with overwhelming proof. These claims have caused irreparable harm to Dominion's good reputation and threatened the safety of our employees and customers.[33]

In April 2021 Lindell filed a countersuit against Dominion Voting Systems, accusing Dominion of "debasing the legal system".[34]

Around the same time Dominion threatened legal action, Lindell announced that retailers including Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl's, Wayfair, and Texas supermarket chain H-E-B were removing My Pillow products from their stores.[35][36]

A 2016 Consumer Reports review of the company's pillows found a mixed reception after at-home testing, finding that "only one-third of the group said they would buy MyPillow again."[37]

In January 2017, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) announced it had revoked the accreditation for My Pillow and had lowered its rating from an A+ to an F[38] based on numerous consumer complaints. The main issue addressed by the BBB was the constant use of their buy one, get one free offer. The BBB's Code of Advertising requires that offers or discounts must be made for a limited time, or the deal becomes the normal price of the product.[39] It remained an active promotion as of August 2020.[40]