Honest Mattress Reviews Sued By Purple Over 'Non-Toxic Powder'

Online mattress retailer Purple is suing a reviewer who posted about a “white powder” on their product that could be toxic. Honest Mattress Reviews, a YouTube channel and site, is being sued by the manufacturer after saying that the plastic pieces that chip off the mattress when you sleep could be harmful to your health. Since the lawsuit started in March, Purple Mattress has even gone so far as to get a restraining order on the guys behind HMR. After a hard-fought legal battle alongside Marc Randazza, a first-amendment attorney, HMR did manage to get the restraining order removed and stopped a Preliminary Injunction by Purple Mattresses.

The Purple mattress uses a three-layer system, with the top being made of a “polymer comfort grid” that just happens to be covered in a white powder. According to Honest Mattress Reviews, they tried to contact the company to find out if this dust was toxic or harmful. They tried calling Purple’s hotline, repeatedly tweeting at them and after 159 days of inquiry, they finally got an answer: it’s “non-toxic plastic powder.” PM did not answer whether the powder could still be inhaled and cause respiratory problems. Inhaling dust, like Talcum Powder, can be dangerous to your health. It makes sense for a reviewer to pursue the potential dangers of a product they're reviewing.

The guys behind Honest Mattress Reviews revoked their endorsement of Purple mattresses after learning about the powder. “Purple’s previous and current business practices involve deliberately choosing not to inform customers of the powders existence in the first place,” HMR wrote on its site. “When pressed by customers with respiratory conditions such as asthma, Purple defended its decision not to disclose the contents of its products.

Honest Mattress Reviews believes this is a first-amendment fight and that it is completely justified in its criticism. “When you look on Purple’s website, their high-resolution product images do not show the final product they are shipping,” HMR writes. “We believe this is a deceptive business practice that could potential (sic) irritate or even impact the health of tens of thousands of unknowing consumers.”

Users with Asthma could inhale the tiny beads and suffer a serious reaction or even worse. The CEO of Purple even says it’s safe to eat, which we don’t recommend doing to prove a point, ever.

The legal fight between Purple and HMR has been going on for the last couple of months, but a post on the front page of reddit on Monday got the internet rage machine revving. It’s got everything a great reddit fight could ask for: an underdog content creator getting sued by a corporation for saying something negative about the company’s products. H3h3 Productions is going to have to create a video about what’s going on just to stay on-top of all the internet drama.

How do you feel about the Honest Mattress Reviews vs. Purple internet scuffle? Tell us in the comments.