Persil ads failed to come clean

It is supposed to wash whiter than white. But the manufacturers of Persil are today criticised for not coming clean about how good their washing powder really is.

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against Unilever, which produces Persil Non-Bio, for fiddling figures to show it offers "unbeatable cleaning".

The complaint was lodged by Proctor and Gamble, Unilever's biggest rival, and continues a long-standing feud between the companies.

ASA took expert advice before ruling on the claim about Unilever's Persil Non-Bio washing tablets. It found the tablets lived up to the claim - or at least that other washing tablets were no better.

But it also found that in testing its tablets against Proctor and Gamble's Ariel Non-Bio, Unilever used a higherthanrecommended amount of Persil and a lower than recommended dose of Ariel.

Unilever said the complaint related to an advert last year.