Persil has had one of its televsion adverts banned by the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) due to a "misleading" environmental claim.

The advert was shown in March and said that Persil's washing liquid was “kinder to our planet” which was queried by one viewer.

In the advert itself it showed beaches strewn with litter and then a Persil bottle followed by the text “made with 50% recycled plastic”, “removes stains at 30C” and “60 minutes quick wash”.

A voice-over said: “Tough on stains. Kinder to our planet. Dirt is good,” while the advert showed children in sunlit outdoor scenes running through white sheets hanging to dry and then a field with trees.

Worcester News: Unilever attempted to defend the claim made against its Persil ad (PA)Unilever attempted to defend the claim made against its Persil ad (PA)

Unilever, the parent company of Persil, defended the ad saying the product was "kinder" to the planet because it washed at lower temperatures and used 50% recycled plastic.

However, the ASA clarified that products advertised to be "greener" or environmentally-friendly need to show a benefit over other products.

In a statement the ASA said: “Although we acknowledged Persil were undertaking actions to reduce the environmental impact of their products, we had not seen evidence or analysis to demonstrate the overall environmental impact of the featured liquid detergents over their full-life cycles, compared with Persil’s own previous products or other products, in support of the claim ‘kinder to our planet’.

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“We concluded that the basis of the claim ‘kinder to our planet’ had not been made clear.

“Additionally, in the absence of evidence demonstrating that the full-life cycle of the product had a lesser environmental impact compared to a previous formulation, we concluded the ad was likely to mislead.”

The ASA said the ad must not appear again in its current form.

A Unilever spokeswoman said: “We are disappointed with the ASA adjudication as this TV advertisement was intended to communicate how Persil removes tough stains in quick and cold washes as well as how all Persil liquid detergent bottles now contain 50% recycled plastic.

“We are committed to making ongoing improvements to all our products to make them more sustainable and will continue to look at how we can share this with our shoppers.”