American giant Clorox Car Care is poised to unleash a £1.25m advertising and promotional campaign to help push its Armor All Wipes range to market leadership in the UK.

The STP brand owner believes British motorists will take to the wipe concept for car cleaning as strongly as the US market (where it is the No 1 product), and plans to stir up debate around the issue of whether men or women keep their vehicles in the best condition.

At the core of a co-ordinated blend of broadcast and print media advertising, public relations and massive product sampling are the intentionally controversial messages “men are dirty” and “women are filthy”.

'We don't think this is likely to cause offence,” says Clorox European marketing director Simon Walsh. “But we do expect it to create a dialogue in our target market of the mass motorist.”

Armor All Wipes – for glass, dashboard, leather and general cleaning duties – were launched in April last year and are distributed in the UK through Decasol. The first car care product to go global with Wal-Mart, Wipes are available through retailers such as A1S, the Asda supermarket chain, all Moto motorway service stations and on 6000 forecourts.