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We recently received the following legal notice advising us not to mention Clorox brand disinfectant on our site:
From: anonymous NFS user <nobody@web.tiac.net> Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 12:48:52 -0400 (EDT) To: undisclosed-recipients:; Subject: feedback from the web name = The Clorox Company subject = Use of CLOROX Trademark in Chicken Recipe comment = Legal Department Fax No.: 510-271-1652 August 15, 2001 VIA E-MAIL Re: Use of CLOROX® in Chicken Recipe on Website Gentlemen: It has come to our attention that you have published a recipe entitled "MOM'S CLOROX CHICKEN" on your website. The text instructs consumers to cook chicken with CLOROX Liquid Bleach, including exhorting the public to "revive the tradition of CLOROX cooking"; and refers to an uncooked chicken as "pre-Clorox-ed". The ter "CLOROX" is a registered trademark of The Clorox Company for bleach and other laundry and household cleaning products. The CLOROX trademark is one of The Clorox Company's most valuable assets. Trademark law requires that trademark owners police the use of trademarks to ensure trademarks are used properly - otherwise their exclusive rights to the mark may be affected. For your information, a trademark comprises a proper adjective which should always be used in conjunction with a noun describing the product. For example, the CLOROX trademark should always be used with a noun such as "bleach" or "disinfectant". Our trademark should never be used as a verb or a noun. Therefore, reference to „CLOROX‰ without a descriptor, such as "bleach", is an improper use of our trademark. Further, a reference to using our CLOROX bleach product to cook chicken, even if meant in jest, is also an improper use of our trademark and denigrates our trademark and our Company. It also encourages mis-use of our product, which mis-use could lead to physical harm. We ask that you immediately cease use of CLOROX in any way, including but not limited to recipes, and that you give us your written assurance that you have done so, and that you will not use any phrases or marks identical or confusingly similar to our CLOROX trademark in future. We look forward to your response by August 15. Very truly yours, Kasimira C. Verdi Sr. Paralegal II KCV:kcv ltkaleberg replyto = kasimira.verdi@clorox.com
The idea for the parody was based on the long discontinued practice of using liquid bleach as a disinfectant to sterlize foods in various foreign postings. Many foreign service families still remember the awful flavor this impartedto fresh vegetables. This practice is HARMFUL. Liquid bleach should NOT be used as food disinfectant! It is also a bad idea to use tractors to prepare barbecue.
Note that the CDC web site still recommends using liquid bleach to disinfect tap water in Guinea-Bisseau when preparing mixtures for oral rehydration therapy. But they do NOT explicitly recommend any Clorox product.