One wouldn't think clean as a concept is gross. After all, everyone knows they're the opposite of one another.
However, think about how cleaning products for instance leave everything sterile and empty of life, and they are made of artifical chemicals that when ingested can really mess you up, and that's at best, and they smell weird.
Thus, you see the disgusting aspects of cleanliness.
This is mostly done when we are being shown the perspective of a character who would be seen as "gross" by everyone else.
Often overlaps with Ascetic Aesthetic. Subtropes are Cats Hate Water and Hates Baths.
Advertising
- A Febreze commercial shows a dog saying "Mmm... smelly shoes!" The owner then sprays it with Febreze and when he sniffs it and realizes this, he does a Big "NO!".
Films — Animated
- Shrek the Third has an inversion: Shrek and Fiona love each other's morning breath.
Western Animation
- SpongeBob SquarePants: SpongeBob catches "the suds", a sickness which causes the victim to sneeze soap bubbles.
