The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

four-color glossies
 n.

    1. Literature created by marketroids that allegedly contains technical
    specs but which is in fact as superficial as possible without being totally
    content-free. ?Forget the four-color glossies, give me the tech ref
    manuals.? Often applied as an indication of superficiality even when the
    material is printed on ordinary paper in black and white. Four-color-glossy
    manuals are never useful for solving a problem.

    2. [rare] Applied by extension to manual pages that don't contain enough
    information to diagnose why the program doesn't produce the expected or
    desired output.