This has been a bug bear of mine for some years.

You know, where you're offered something in a headline and the reality is something else - covered by some caveat at the bottom or in the terms and conditions.

It's lazy advertising. And it seems it's just become part of our culture.

Of course, I am aware that just because I buy a Golf, it does not mean I have money to waste at a casino in Cannes, or that (unfortunately) I am really that good looking.

I am really talking about figures that are quoted providing a 'reasonable expectation' to the consumer where in fact the caveat and reality is nothing of the sort.

Here's a couple of examples;

BT Broadband 'up to 8Mb'. Now, we've all heard about 'contention ratio' - a get out clause which allows BT and others to advertise speeds which we dont actually get. So I thought 'up to 8Mb' actually meant sometimes, maybe even rarely, I'd get 8Mb but a lot of the time less. But in a conversation I have just had with their technical support, it seems even this was misplaced.

Having asked them to test my line, they said my speed was as good as I could expect which should be anything between .5Mb and 6Mb.

So, that will be 'up to 6Mb' then.

I also remember Orange, the mobile phone operator, launching with ads suggesting something like '90% of UK population covered' and a graphic showing the UK map.

But when you thought about it, 90% of the UK population live in about 10% of the UK's total land mass. And certainly my experience of Orange coverage when it launched was that I often had trouble getting through.

But the advert gave me the impression that 90% of the UK was covered because of the map graphic.

Is it just me, or is this type of advertising lazy or incredibly clever?