diff --git a/munit/shared/src/main/scala/munit/Compare.scala b/munit/shared/src/main/scala/munit/Compare.scala
index 40b59795..15745d7a 100644
--- a/munit/shared/src/main/scala/munit/Compare.scala
+++ b/munit/shared/src/main/scala/munit/Compare.scala
@@ -80,11 +80,18 @@ trait Compare[A, B] {
     )(loc)
 
     // Attempt 3: string comparison is not working, unconditionally fail the test.
-    assertions.failComparison(
-      s"values are not equal even if they have the same `toString()`: $obtained",
-      obtained,
-      expected
-    )(loc)
+    if (obtained.toString() == expected.toString())
+      assertions.failComparison(
+        s"values are not equal even if they have the same `toString()`: $obtained",
+        obtained,
+        expected
+      )(loc)
+    else
+      assertions.failComparison(
+        s"values are not equal, even if their text representation only differs in leading/trailing whitespace and ANSI escape characters: $obtained",
+        obtained,
+        expected
+      )(loc)
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/tests/shared/src/main/scala/munit/AssertionsFrameworkSuite.scala b/tests/shared/src/main/scala/munit/AssertionsFrameworkSuite.scala
index e1f94dd9..1f4c624b 100644
--- a/tests/shared/src/main/scala/munit/AssertionsFrameworkSuite.scala
+++ b/tests/shared/src/main/scala/munit/AssertionsFrameworkSuite.scala
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ object AssertionsFrameworkSuite
          |=> Diff (- obtained, + expected)
          |-a.A()
          |+b.B()
-         |==> failure munit.AssertionsFrameworkSuite.toString-has-different-whitespace - /scala/munit/AssertionsFrameworkSuite.scala:39 values are not equal even if they have the same `toString()`: foo
+         |==> failure munit.AssertionsFrameworkSuite.toString-has-different-whitespace - /scala/munit/AssertionsFrameworkSuite.scala:39 values are not equal, even if their text representation only differs in leading/trailing whitespace and ANSI escape characters: foo
          |38:  test("toString-has-different-whitespace") {
          |39:    assertEquals[Any, Any]("foo", "foo  ")
          |40:  }