Can Cleaning Feel as Good as Petting Puppies? New Neuroscience Research from Clorox Says It Can
Clorox launches new brand platform, Clean Feels Good, that looks to inspire individuals to rethink what feels good
OAKLAND, Calif., March 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Clorox announced a new brand platform, Clean Feels Good, that reimagines what brings small moments of satisfaction into people's daily lives. The platform includes innovative research comparing the emotional responses during common feel-good activities to a Clorox clean.
Clorox knows the act of cleaning can spark joy. According to an online survey from Clorox, one in five Americans (21%) said they clean all the time to improve their mood. But can clean feel as good as other popular ways to treat yourself, like playing with puppies or indulging in a latte?
To find out, Clorox teamed up with global neurotech leader, Emotiv, to test the feeling of clean compared to other feel-good activities, uncovering that 37% of participants felt better cleaning the toilet than they did petting puppies**. Participants also enjoyed wiping coffee rings off the kitchen counter as much as getting their nails done or having their favorite latte or chai tea**.
"It may not come as a surprise at Clorox we believe clean feels good. But finding out through neurotechnology that for some cleaning felt as good as petting puppies? Now that was unexpected," said Tad Kittredge, vice president of marketing and innovation at The Clorox Company. "Through our new brand platform, we're hoping to inspire individuals to rethink what feels good and embrace the small moments of satisfaction cleaning can bring to their daily lives."
Measuring How Good Clean Feels
Emotiv used electroencephalography (EEG) technology to measure brain activity reflecting positive emotions, enthusiasm and approach motivation, a.k.a. good feelings. The experiment was conducted among 30 participants as they engaged in various cleaning and feel-good activities.
"Using EEG, we got a glimpse into what the brain is doing while a participant took part in different activities, from wiping up coffee rings on the kitchen counter to relaxing in a massage chair. From there, we measured the differences in activation between the two sides of the brain, which gives us an indication of how much an individual enjoyed an activity," said Emotiv Senior Research Scientist Dr. Nik Williams.
The experiment results revealed that clean feels good – really good, in fact.
- Cleaning the toilet can often be considered one of the most undesirable household chores – according to an online survey from Clorox, 43% of respondents said they do not feel good while cleaning the toilet*. But neural signatures measured showed that for 43% of participants, cleaning the toilet felt better than listening to their favorite song**. Surprisingly, petting a puppy only felt 5% better than cleaning your toilet** only showing America isn't quite as warry of the toilet bowl as they thought!
- Some may think there's nothing better than that first sip of coffee, but Clorox's experiment showed people don't need an overpriced latte to feel good: cleaning away gunk and grime from the sink felt as good as having a favorite beverage**.
- Not only do people enjoy the aftermath of a sparkling space, but the act of wiping the kitchen counter has a positive effect on brain activity – with our neurological results showing it felt 6% better than getting a massage**.
- Even short, simple cleaning tasks had an emotional impact. Wiping the kitchen counter and scrubbing a sink produced a positive response similar to more time-consuming enjoyable activities like watching a funny video or getting a manicure**.
- Of the cleaning activities tested, wiping stains and spills from surfaces was considered one of the most universally feel-good cleaning tasks**. Specifically, according to an online survey from Clorox, 88% of respondents said they feel good after wiping down surfaces*.
Naturally, individual results may vary. Clorox released new TV spots, showing real responses from real people. For Madison, cleaning the toilet felt better than getting a massage, while wiping the counter felt better than playing a video game for Travis. But cleaning lost to sipping on a Boba tea, which means cleaning has more work to do.
For more information about Clean Feels Good and the experiment findings, visit Clorox.com/CleanFeelsGood or follow @clorox.
Research Methodology
* Clorox conducted an online survey from January 14 to January 23, 2025 of 2,000 nationally representative Americans, comprised of 1,000 Millennials and 1,000 members of Gen Z.
** Emotiv 2025 Study: Clorox partnered with Emotiv to conduct a neuroscience study from January 12 – 14, 2025, to explore how different activities affected brain signatures. Using electroencephalography (EEG), the study compared brain activity in response to 3 cleaning activities and 7 feel-good activities. Where applicable, Bayes Factors indicate the strength of evidence for differences between activities with <0.33 indicating evidence for equivalence.
- 11 participants felt better cleaning the toilet than they did petting a puppy.
- 13 participants felt better cleaning the toilet than listening to their favorite song.
- The Bayes Factor between 3 cleaning and 7 feel-good activities was 0.26, indicating equivalence.
- Cleaning a sink felt equivalent to all 7 feel-good activities.
- Wiping a counter had a 6.1% higher feel-good response compared to getting a massage and felt equivalent to the other 6 feel-good activities. Wiping a counter was a consistently enjoyed activity with the least variation among participants, indicating most participants had a similar positive response.
The Clorox Company
The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) champions people to be well and thrive every single day. Its trusted brands, which include Brita®, Burt's Bees®, Clorox®, Fresh Step®, Glad®, Hidden Valley®, Kingsford®, Liquid-Plumr® and Pine-Sol®, can be found in about nine of 10 U.S. homes and internationally with brands such as Clorinda®, Chux® and Poett®. Headquartered in Oakland, California, since 1913, Clorox was one of the first in the U.S. to integrate ESG into its business reporting. In 2025 the company was ranked No. 1 on Barron's 100 Most Sustainable Companies list for the third consecutive year. Visit thecloroxcompany.com to learn more.
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SOURCE The Clorox Company