Sure, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff has overseen some big cases, but has any been as important as Arm & Hammer v. Clorox: Battle of the Kitty Litters? Rakoff wrote, " The court agrees with [Arm & Hammer]'s expert that it is highly implausible that eleven panelists would stick their noses in jars of [cat] excrement and report forty-four independent times that they smelled nothing unpleasant."
Last year, Arm & Hammer sued Clorox, the maker of Fresh Step litter, for an ad claiming that cats prefer Fresh Step to Arm & Hammer's "Super Scoop" cat litter, claiming the commercial's "independent study" is flawed: "The Clorox advertisements are unambiguous that the judges of whether Fresh Step is superior at eliminating odors are cats, not people. But cats do not talk, and it is widely understood in the scientific community that cat perception of malodor is materially different than human perception. It is not possible scientifically to determine whether cats view one substance to be more or less malodorous than another substance."
The study involved eight cats and two litter boxes, which Arm & Hammer thinks it too few ("It is well known that inter-cat behavior can impact cats' use of a particular litter box in ways that have nothing to do with cat preference for or rejection of a particular litter"). Apparently Rakoff, for now, agreed with Arm & Hammer, and order that the commercial, "Cats Jump in Boxes" (it even featured box-jumper extraordinaire Maru!), noting that the study was "unrealistic," because cat waste was placed into sealed jars with the different litter brands' active ingredients.
Rakoff wrote, “In actual practice, however, cats do not seal their waste, and smells offend as much during the first 22 hours as they do afterward." WORD.
Clorox issued a statement saying, "We're disappointed by the court's ruling and stand by the truthfulness of our advertising. We intend to vigorously defend this matter." Well, till then, let's just enjoy this Maru video:
