Cillit Bang

Cillit Bang is the brand name of a range of cleaning products sold by the consumer products manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser. The products marketed under the brand name include a degreaser, cleaning crystals, and a grime, rust, mould and limescale remover.

Cillit Bang logo

Product contents

Cillit Bang Power Grime and Lime Cleaner Trigger

The Cillit Bang Power Grime and Lime Cleaner Trigger product contains two acids: sulfamic acid and phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid (also known as orthophosphoric acid or phosphoric (V) acid) is a weak mineral acid with the chemical formula H₃PO₄ and applied to rusted iron or steel tools or surfaces to convert iron (III) oxide (rust) to a water-soluble phosphate compound.

This cleaner can be used on glass, acrylic plastic, ceramics (wash basins, toilet bowls, etc.), wall and floor tiles, PVC floor coating, chrome and kitchen tops.

It should not be used on any acid sensitive material, such as marble or enamel, aluminium, copper, stone, zinc-plated metals, kitchen worktops, linoleum, varnished, waxed or oiled wood floors, rubber, textiles or carpets.

Cillit Bang Power Cleaning Crystal

The Cillit Bang Power Cleaning Crystal is a liquid for cleaning heavily stained surfaces. It contains not more than 5% of anionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants, 15-30% of sodium carbonate, sodium percarbonate (the bleaching compound), and a perfume formula containing limonene. It is a skin irritant and can cause allergic reactions in some people, so the company now advises the use of gloves during prolonged exposure.

Advertising campaign

UK advertisements are presented by "Barry Scott", an effusive character played by Neil Burgess, who claims that Cillit Bang can remove limescale, rust and ground-in dirt, and places a copper-plated 1p coin in Cillit Bang to demonstrate the product's cleaning ability. In another version of the advert, Barry is joined by a stereotypical housewife character, Jill, who remarks of his penny-cleaning demonstration, "You love that one, Barry!". (The back of the container originally listed copper as a substance on which one should not use Cillit Bang; however, it has since been amended.)

In the original adverts Barry used a five-cent euro coin for this demonstration. It was soon replaced by the 1p coin.

Easy-Off BAM

It is called in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Mexico (albeit less popularly) Easy-Off BAM (a brand extension of Reckitt Benckiser's popular oven cleaner) with similar packaging and spray bottle design, and in South Africa and Korea as "Easy-Off BANG".

These versions of the advert use different presenters, known as Martin Grellis in Australia and New Zealand, and Dan Dolan in North America, though recent^[when?] spots feature Barry Scott. Dan demonstrates the cleaning methods seen in the Cillit Bang adverts, and also cleans oil spills. The North American versions of the advertisement use the appropriate one cent coin (Lincoln cent in the U.S., a 1953–1964 one cent coin in Canada).

The Canadian version also features a disclaimer: "The Royal Canadian Mint neither endorses the product nor the method shown for the cleaning of coins."

Though Easy-Off BAM is basically the same as Cillit Bang, Easy-Off BAM cleans a penny in 60 seconds, whereas Cillit Bang takes only 10–15 seconds, according to both adverts for the Grime and Lime cleaner.

Industrial use

In August 2009 it was revealed that household cleaners such as Cillit Bang and Mr. Muscle have been used to clean plutonium stains at the defunct Dounreay nuclear power station in Caithness, Scotland.^[1][2][3]

References

1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8217772.stm
2. ^ http://www.dounreay.com/UserFiles/File/Dounreay%20News/September_2009.pdf
3. ^ http://www.dounreay.com/news/2009-08-24/cillit-bang-cleans-up-old-plutonium-plant

External links

• Official web site (contains videos of the advertisements)
• Easy-Off BAM official web site
• Reckitt Benckiser Product Information Website
• Unofficial Hardcore Remix Video, done by JAKAZiD
• Barry Scott and the Cillit Band (spin-off band website)
• The Official Barry Scott weblog
• Barry Scott leaves marketing comments on plasticbag.org
• BBC News reports on the Barry Scott marketing mess
• The Guardian: Cleaner caught playing dirty on the net
• The Daily Mail: The day my house went Cillit bang!