New Class Action Filed Against MyPillow Over 'False Reference Pricing'

My Pillow, Inc. is the defendant in a new proposed class action lawsuit claiming the company, in two nationwide advertising campaigns, engaged in “false reference pricing” with regard to two purported sale offers for its flagship product.

The lawsuit, filed in Montana district court, defines “false reference pricing” as the act of misrepresenting the regular price of a product that is being advertised as “on sale” or part of a buy-one-get-one offer. My Pillow’s buy-one-get-one—or BOGO—promotions were allegedly deceptive because the company did not provide, with the purchase of a pillow, one additional pillow at no cost. Instead, the 12-page complaint claims, My Pillow allegedly inflated the regular price of its pillow included in the promotion, leading consumers to, in reality, buy two pillows “at or near” the combined regular price for two pillows.

“Unbeknownst to [the plaintiff] and Class Members, they were not getting two pillows ‘for the price of one,’” the suit reads. “Instead, MyPillow was inflating the regular price of the first pillow to approximately or exactly twice its regular price, thereby passing on the cost of the ‘free’ pillow to the consumer.”

The lawsuit later details another My Pillow advertising campaign in which the company purported to offer a pillow at a 50 percent discount. The plaintiff claims this “illusory” sale offer was also false and deceptive because My Pillow, instead of truly offering its product for half off, “inflated the price of the pillow to approximately twice the regular price,” then touted this as a 50 percent discount.

The abovementioned allegations against My Pillow, Inc. come as the ink is still drying on a November settlement that ended a class action claiming the company lied about the supposed health benefits of its product. Furthermore, as a result of a settlement agreement between a California District Attorney and My Pillow, the company will no longer be able to tout its pillow as being able to help prevent or treat certain medial conditions or as the “official pillow” of the National Sleep Foundation.