Opinion ID: 687273
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Undisclosed Deceptive Devices

Text: 23 L & F next claims that the commercials depended upon undisclosed devices constituting false advertising per se. Specifically, L & F asserts that the use of carbon black in the soap scum formula and tile templates in the televised commercials was deceptive.
24 L & F specifically objects to the use of carbon black and argues that it was deceptive to add it to the laboratory soap scum because it left the viewer with the false impression that LYSOL products would leave behind a residue capable of soiling white fabric. The district court rejected this contention. 25 L & F would have us find that there is some acceptable level of blackness for laboratory-developed soap scum which was exceeded in this case. Even were we inclined to engage in such an endeavor, the record supports the finding that carbon black exists in many household items and is thus a natural component of organic soap scum. The inescapable fact is that LYSOL products sometimes leave a residue. In our view, P & G was entitled to make the residue camera-registrable in this fashion.
26 L & F also urges that the substitution of tile templates in the steambath and shower stall commercials was deceptive. This argument, too, fails. There is nothing inherently misleading about simulating cleaning on-screen, and conducting the actual testing off-camera. It is undisputed that the competing products were treated in the same manner. That the custodians actually wiped ordinary soil rather than the laboratory developed scum does not strike us as deceptive. We find nothing extraordinary in the techniques employed to demonstrate product superiority. It was, therefore, not clear error for the district court to conclude that the use of templates was not misleading.