In his first column for the Bridgwater Mercury in 2018, DJ Dave Englefield discusses misleading adverts.

It’s all gone back to normal now with schools, colleges and work all returning to its usual routine. Hopefully you managed to get some time off to relax and have some fun even if, like me, you still had to work for some of it.

Over the break I did manage to catch up with a few bits on the box and I noticed an ad for a computer game. Now I fully appreciate that many people derive hours of pleasure from playing them, and that they can be a great stress reliever in some cases, although I can imagine that they could also cause stress if you find yourself stuck on the same level for a while.

Anyway, I digress. This ad was for a computer game that I’m sure sold bucketloads but at the bottom of the screen was a caption stating that the pictures on screen were not part of the actual game footage.

Huh? Isn’t that a little misleading? If the game is that good why create something different for the TV ad? Why not use proper, genuine game footage which would at least then be an accurate portrayal of what you are buying.

It all seems a bit wrong to me, although that could just be me. Its all moved on a bit from Pacman and Space Invaders hasn’t it, and even further away from the Atari tennis game that had us all hooked in the late 70s.

If you’ve never come across it, its basically two bats, one either side of the screen, that can be moved up and down, trying to hit a square ball across the screen. And that’s it. We were all hooked by it but somehow I can’t imagine the games players of today getting quite as much enjoyment from it as we did somehow.

You can hear Dave Englefield on the Breakfast Show on 104.2 Sedgemoor FM, weekdays from 6am