The story of success

Water beds were invented in the III millennium BC, reinvented at the end of the XIX century and began to be produced in plastic shells in the United States at the junction of the 60's and 70's of the XX century.

At first, water beds were intended for people with problems with the musculoskeletal system and back pain. They were extremely uncomfortable: they weighed 500 kg, sharp objects and pets caused a flood and huge lawsuits from homeowners and neighbors below, it was difficult to turn over on them, the constant rocking was a test for the vestibular apparatus, and any movement caused a wave, especially noticeable for people with different weights.

But the enthusiasts of water beds were not people with orthopedic problems, but quite healthy young people, to whom water beds gave new bright impressions, which could not be obtained on conventional mattresses.

By 1986, waterbeds had 22% of the U.S. market!

Twenty-two percent!

And it would have been even more if it weren't for homeowner bans on waterbeds, which made them eligible for use in the California Civil Code (CIV § 1940.5).

Because they weren't like regular beds-they were different.

In the 70s, waterbeds became the manifesto of hippie youth, the epitome of the times, the spirit of freedom, drugs, and rock and roll.

“Click once get two free” - under this slogan not only waterbeds were sold, but also the Great Sexual Revolution, young people threw out spring mattresses from their windows, voting against the old boring world for new pleasures.

By the '80s, professional marketers, big chains and big business had taken over.

“Two things are better on a water bed. One of them is sleeping” is a great and very professional slogan. Water beds had a chic of dubious elitism, a flair of unprecedented sensual pleasures, a trail of available erotic fantasies (one Hugh Hefner on a huge water bed with black silk sheets was worth it!).

Consumers were not at all enticed by stories of comfortable sleep, and not at all comfortable sleep generated demand at 22%.

But the rebels and rock 'n' rollers, who were sure they would never be like their parents' generation as they settled down and got jobs, homes and families, did not forget the waterbed to preserve the memory of their youth and their Great Sexual Revolution.

Gradually the waterbeds died out, and today's waterbeds are similar in name to those of the distant 70's and 80's, when their main feature disappeared - the wave that made it hard to roll over and sleep together, that caused seasickness, that made sleeping uncomfortable and sex fun and unlike anything else.

Because it was sex on the move.

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