Most people have no idea (and don't care) how any of this stuff works. They don't know or care whether it's done with resistance heating or by running an air conditioner backwards. All they know is it's a machine which makes hot air. If you try to tell them how much more efficient it is to move heat from the outdoors to the indoors instead of just turning electricity into heat they will stare at you blankly and say "but it's a heater, right?"