Tempur-Pedic
Tempur-Pedic is an American mattress and pillow company, based in Lexington, Kentucky, which produces products from the polyurethane based memory foam material, TEMPUR. The company claims, through its television advertisements, that the mattress system has therapeutic properties which relieve the pain some feel while sleeping. The company's adverstising campaign consistently touts its products will offer the feeling of sleeping on, (or sinking into) a cloud. However, the company does not recommend its products to large or heavy customers — as they tend to sink to the bottom of the foam matress.
In the United States, Tempur-Pedic is well known for its infomercials and regular TV commercials which feature actors claiming the material is revolutionary and has changed their lives.
The material used by Tempur-Pedic, called "visco-elastic memory foam," was originally designed for NASA for use in the U.S. Space Program and then was used by the medical community before becoming a consumer product. Because of the NASA association, the company uses the phrase, "The only mattress recognized by NASA and certified by the Space Foundation" to attribute a uniqueness to its product. Other mattress systems, including Serta, have similar memory foam built into their padding. As a result of this high tech background, Tempur-Pedic mattresses are generally priced substantially higher than that of standard mattresses.