A TV advertisement for Persil washing liquid with an image of a littered beach has been banned after complaints that the claim that Persil was “kinder to our planet” were misleading and could not be substantiated.

Unilever, owner of the Persil brand, said that the product could use reduced temperatures, meaning less carbon emissions and less energy, and that plastic bottles now contained at least 50 per cent post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR) – both part of the wider Clean Future programme by Unilever.

But the Advertising Standards Authority considered that the statement “kinder to our planet” was an environmental claim that was comparative and likely to be ambiguous to viewers and that the advertisement must not appear again in its current form.

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