METHOD PRODUCTS has made a name for itself by selling household cleaners in sleek packages with an eco-friendly message and a hip corporate vibe. Picture a $5 container shaped like a perfume bottle filled with French lavender dish soap that contains no bleach or phosphates.

Until now, the seven-year-old company’s products have been marketed largely through word of mouth, good shelf space and the appeal of the packaging. Using the slogan “people against dirty,” Method Products Inc. has placed its laundry detergents, spray cleaners, hand washes and other items in stores like Target, Wegmans, Costco and Duane Reade, where they typically cost 15 to 20 percent more than mainstream national brands.

This week the company, which is based in San Francisco, introduced its biggest advertising push to date, a campaign called Detox Your Home. Created in conjunction with TBWA/Chiat/Day, the campaign showcases the company’s biodegradable cleaning products (it also sells a personal care line, which includes body washes, lotions and shaving cream).

The campaign includes print ads, online banners and a search-engine marketing component. Method Products is also planning events around the country to promote its message in local markets.

Detox Your Home is a “call to action to live a healthier lifestyle,” says Francesca Schuler, Method’s vice president for marketing. She says the company wants to inspire people with the idea that small changes can make a big difference. “With all the green and health messages out there, we wanted to be clear about how to have a healthier home. The first thing to do is, get rid of those chemicals.”

The “green cleaning” movement — using household cleansers made from environmentally friendly, nonpolluting ingredients — has been gaining momentum and revenue recently. The granddaddy of the category, Seventh Generation, which sells both household cleaners and personal care products, is 15 years old. Companies that make conventional cleaning products, like Clorox and S. C. Johnson, are offering similar product lines.

Last year, according to Kline & Company, a market research firm, Method Products had sales of $85 million. The private company was the fastest-growing cleaning products concern of the 18 that Kline profiled, posting a 140 percent increase in sales in 2006. Kline also estimated that the green category of the household cleaning products industry represents $300 million in sales, or 2 percent of the total market.

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S. C. Johnson, the maker of Windex, Pledge and Fantastik, began an initiative six years ago called Greenlist in which it rates all the raw materials used in its products for environmental safety.

Scott Johnson, vice president for global environmental safety at S. C. Johnson, said that the company did not have a separate category for green products, but had been trying continuously to upgrade its existing products to be as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible. In January, Clorox plans to introduce a line of eco-friendly products to be sold alongside its existing bleaches and cleansers. Clorox expects the Green Works line to cost about 20 percent to 25 percent more than its current products.

Stephen P. Ashkin, president of a green-cleaning consultancy called the Ashkin Group and a former director of product development for Seventh Generation, said he foresaw big companies like Clorox and S. C. Johnson becoming sources of major innovations in the green cleaning industry. “They will invest their technical resources into products,” Mr. Ashkin said. “And as they sell more, they will buy more green raw materials, which will drive further innovation among their suppliers.”

Ms. Schuler of Method Products said she was not daunted by the larger rivals. “We are excited about the competition,” she said. “It means people want to live a greener lifestyle, and we are all for that.”

The new campaign for Method Products was meant to reflect the “style and substance” of the products as well as the “personal” and “very human” attitude of the company, said Carisa Bianchi, president of TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles, which is part of the TBWA Worldwide unit of the Omnicom Group.

“The brand itself has a personality that is very fun. They really wanted to preserve that personality,” Ms. Bianchi said. “It’s written from a human perspective, it’s very conversational, from someone you might know well.”

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Some of the ads are a bit provocative. One shows the entwined legs of two nude people lying on the ground, the rest of their bodies hidden by a wall; a mop is propped against the wall. The slogan reads, “Make floor love, not floor war.”

Another visual shows a spray cleaner bottle wrapped in a crumpled brown paper bag, with the slogan “lay off the hard stuff.”

Given that Method Products is known for its package design, part of the hook is that the products, like Ylang-Ylang shower spray and Cut Grass aroma sticks, are “counter-worthy,” as Ms. Schuler put it. “If you want to leave them out, they look fine,” she said.

At the same time, the look of the new campaign, which Ms. Schuler would only say had a budget of “several million dollars,” is geared toward creating new “advocates” — people whom the rest of us might call “customers.” Advocates, said Ms. Schuler, “want a healthier lifestyle and appreciate good design.”