Sneak is nonplussed to learn that best of British broadband provider Bulldog has had its knuckles rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for its "misleading" advert suggesting customers could get up to 8Mbit/s of broadband for only £15.50 per month. Seduced by this advert some customers apparently signed up only to find that unless they happened to live a stone’s throw from an exchange (OK, not even Sneak can quite lob a stone 3km, but you get the idea) degradation of the signal meant that for many eager buyers, an eight-meg connection was about as probable as growing a second head.

But now that’s cleared up, Sneak can’t help thinking the ASA could be opening a lot of wormy cans if it plans to insist on actual accuracy in technology adverts. As far as Sneak can ascertain, iPods have never turned anyone into a silhouette; a BT phone will not swing a house purchase unless the buyer is clinically insane; and magical castles and guard dogs do not appear around your PC every time you turn on Windows unless you buy your mushrooms from a furtive hippy. Moreover, Sneak is sure that deploying Microsoft products will not instantly turn your company into a “people-ready business”. Or at least Sneak would be sure about it if “people-ready” actually meant something outside the addled imaginations of advertising execs.

21 Sep 2006