When does being economical with the truth become misrepresentation? I ask because my attention was recently drawn to a business that, according to its website, appears to boast an impressive press room containing a host of multi-colour B1 presses. The sort of setup that would require a spend running into millions of pounds, and would apparently indicate a print supplier of some substance. Trouble is, the kit in question belongs to another firm altogether and is located many miles away. The company boasting of such extensive facilities is actually a print manager.

The firm has been careful in its choice of wording elsewhere on its site. But to a not-so-cynical, or perhaps untutored observer, the overall impression given is of a business with a well-equipped manufacturing facility. The phrase "weasel words" springs to mind.

Being an avid reader of the forums at printweek.com, I'm aware this is the sort of thing that generates forthright opinions, and not a little frothing at the mouth. Printers often make unfavourable comparisons between their own investments in heavy metal versus the somewhat less onerous capex required of a typical print manager. So it's surely adding insult to injury for a PM company to give the impression that it's actually bought all this kit. The disingenuous example above did make me wonder how widespread such weasely activities are nowadays.

It also reminded me of an amusing conversation with a long-standing contact over a glass of vino collapso a few weeks back. He was reminiscing about the days when he used to run a two-colour print business, but sold his services as including multi-colour printing. For four-colour work he used the services of a trade printer up the road. Such a job came up for some posh clients who wanted to pass it on press, so he duly trotted along to the trade printer's place with the temporary sign created for just this purpose, and awaited the client's arrival. All was going well with the press pass until one of the (female) customers turned to my chum and asked "where's the ladies' room?". To which his rather less-than-convincing reply was "err, I don't know".

Which leads me to wonder, is it still possible to get by on bullsh*t in print?