Paint suppliers Farrow & Ball and Marston & Langinger have clashed over the latter's claim to make the best paint in the world.
Farrow & Ball complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about two of its rival's ads for exterior eggshell, interior eggshell and interior matt in decorating and garden magazines.

The first, headed 'The Perfect Finish', explained how the company's exterior eggshell had been created with the help of leading marine coating experts and was now available to buy in a choice of three finishes. Text below stated 'Marston & Langinger The Best Paint in the World'.

The second ad, 'Drawn from Nature', stated that Marston & Langinger's paints were 'technically superior', and repeated the claim that they were the best in the world. Farrow & Ball considered that claim to be misleading in both ads.

However, while the ASA agreed that the use of the claim in the second ad was indeed misleading it dismissed the challenge over the first, saying it was likely to be seen by readers simply as puffery - the advertiser's expression of opinion about its own product.

The difference with the second ad was Marston & Langinger's assertion that its paints were technically superior. Marston & Langinger provided evidence to the ASA of its products' durability, ease of application, pigment strength, surface properties and environmental credentials. But the ad watchdog said the claim that its paints were the best in the world, when used in tandem with the claim of technical superiority, suggested that they were the most technically advanced on the global market.

The ASA said that without robust comparative evidence to show that that was the case, the ad was misleading, and told Norfolk-based Marston & Langinger to exercise caution when making 'best' claims.