Household cleaning giant Dyson has been left red faced after the ASA overruled its challenge whether ads for the new Stanley Black & Decker steam mop were misleading due to unsubstantiated claims.
In recent TV and website advertising campaigns for its latest steam mop, Stanley Black & Decker claims that the product "uses ordinary tap water to wipe out 99.9% of germs and bacteria". Small print adds: "The Black & Decker steam mop will kill 99.9% of common household germs and bacteria, such as Salmonella and E. Coli, provided the floor surface is visually clean and the steam mop is used as directed in the instruction manual."

Following Dyson's challenge as to whether these claims could be substantiated, Stanley B&D submitted a dossier of evidence in support of the ad claims, including laboratory testing of the product and comparative testing of five competitor devices. B&D considered the testing they had commissioned to be comprehensive and the claim that the product kills 99.9% of bacteria and germs and sanitises floors was fully substantiated.

The ASA noted that the laboratory testing report was written by a chartered biologist and microbiologist, who worked with B&D to develop the product for domestic use. It fully explained how the product worked, and how no viable challenge organisms were recovered from vinyl floor surfaces after steam treatment during a trial. This, it judged, accorded with the minimum sanitsation target of a greater than 99.9% kill rate for the microorganisms tested.

Said the ASA: "We considered that B&D's evidence was robust and therefore concluded that the claims the product was capable of killing 99.9% of bacteria and germs and sanitising floors had been substantiated."