Unilever's Persil Power detergent — the catalyst that ate customers' clothes

By the early 1990s Unilever's Persil brand was losing ground to Procter & Gamble's Ariel Ultra, a super-compact washing powder with a new catalyst technology that cleaned effectively at lower temperatures. Unilever urgently needed a competitive answer. Its scientists developed a manganese(IV)-based catalyst that accelerated bleach decomposition, allowing Persil Power to clean cool — a genuine technical innovation that promised to leapfrog Ariel.

Persil Power launched across Europe in May 1994 backed by a big-budget marketing campaign. The product worked as intended on new clothes. But after several washes, the manganese catalyst began attacking common clothing dyes — colours faded, fabric lost structural integrity, and garments literally disintegrated. Unilever had tested the product on new fabric, where the damage was invisible on the first wash. On the clothes customers actually washed, the effect accumulated quickly.

Within weeks consumers reported ruined clothes. P&G ran a public campaign on the damage. Unilever rushed a reformulation with less catalyst, but it too damaged fabrics. The product was recalled and withdrawn. Lawsuits were settled out of court. The failure was deeply embarrassing for its champion Niall FitGerald. Unilever returned with 'New Generation Persil' — a reformulated product without the catalyst.