Spam, it's
all I ever hear about lately. After doing some comparisons with other
tactics, Spam did not take first place as the most annoying. Door-to-door
salespeople did. I have listed some of the characteristics of marketing
tactics that may be annoying, expensive and intrusive to many people.
As marketers, that, by the way, is what we do. Most all advertising
is intrusive, sent without permission and even offensive to some. I
know people that are offended by soft-drink advertising because they
say it is destroying nutritional values for our children.
Anyway,
here is a "tongue-in-cheek" look at various marketing tactics:
Direct
Mail - fills our mailboxes, and lands on our desks with offers for
products and services we often don't want or need. It costs everybody
money by increasing air pollution from the chemical laden printing process.
It consumes our land fills with trillions of pieces of paper, thus destroying
forests and natural resources. It increases waste management costs astronomically.
It wastes our time. It invades our privacy and personal space by actually
physically coming into our homes and offices. Some of it is insulting,
ever get one of those personalized pitches that give you the impression
that a "friend" sent it to you, yet only a moron would fall
for it? They even try to hide what they are selling by producing envelopes
that look liked they are official or come from the government. They
have the nerve to write URGENT on the many letters. Since the average
response rate is only 2% - that means that 98% of it is unwanted, wasted
material.
Television
Commercials - Interrupt our favorite TV shows with banal and offensive
pitches for products and services that we don't even care to purchase.
They come right into our living space without our permission or consent.
They blast their images right in front of our children. Some of it presents,
women, minorities and others in an offensive manner. Did you ever notice
how they turn up the volume on those things, so if we try to get away
we can still hear them? Who gave them permission to run that stuff anyway?
I never opted-in. How do I opt-out?
Magazine
Advertisements - They cause the same pollution that direct mail
does. Maybe you like the ads in magazines. I don't. Why can't they put
all the ads in the back? That way I could "opt-out" simply
by tearing the magazine in two.
Door-to-Door
Salespeople - Need I say more?
Telephone
solicitors - Interrupt our day and evening, pitching unwanted products
and services. They waste our time, wake our kids, intrude on our dinnertime
and are more than annoying. Many insult, cajole and push for products
we don't want or need. They use our personal resource (the telephone)
which we pay money for every month. And they never have our permission
to call in the first place. And did you ever get a call where they acted
like your "friend"? Really, I could delete 100 emails in the
time it takes to talk to one of those people.
Billboards - They mar our landscape with garish pitches for everything
from used cars to soft drinks. They distract drivers and could be the
cause of injury
and fatal accidents on our roads and highways. They cheapen our neighborhoods
and clutter near our parks and schools. They provide nests for rodents
and other distasteful vermin. Nobody really likes them. They are everywhere.
Visual Spam.
Newspapers - Fill page after page of ink laden pitches for just
everything. They create the same drain on natural resources as do magazines
and direct mail (maybe more). They make it difficult to really read
the news which is what we bought the paper for anyway. Did you ever
notice how the ink really comes off on your hands on those reverse type
advertisements?
Door Hangers - People actually walk up to our front door and
think they can hang cardboard die-cut pitches for pizza, fast food and
home delivery. They invade our privacy, decrease our personal safety,
and trespass on our property. They cause our dogs to bark, and they
can wake our children. I don't really like pizza that much anyway. Is
this legal?
Radio Commercials - Who wants radio commercials? Nobody. Why
would you? They interrupt our favorite music with often times loud and
crass pitches for just about everything. They can startle us when we
are driving with weird sound effects and possibly cause accidents. They
use bandwidth on the public airways that could be donated to education,
and more worthwhile causes. We have never given them permission to run
their commercials. Do they think we listen?
Flyers
- Ever go to your car only to see all kinds of trash on your windshield?
Talk about invasive. Flyers and the people that put them on our cars
can scratch our shiny paint job, cause our interiors to fill with trash,
or worse, subject us to littering fines if we just toss them. That's
right, they can litter that stuff on our windshield with immunity but
if you throw it on the road it will cost you a $300 fine, we now know
which is more sacred. I want to fine them for littering on my car.
Aerial
Advertising - Ever see these planes skywriting pitches for beer
over our pristine beaches and parks? Who invited them? If you are driving
they can distract you, and if you are trying to get some sun or have
a picnic they are loud, and disruptive. Is no place sacred?
Bus
Bench Advertising - See Billboards.
Menu
Advertising - Please, we came to the restaurant to eat, not to scour
offers from the car wash on your menu and placemats.
Specialty
Advertising - Cheap plastic items with logos. I can't even imagine
how much pollution that causes, all that plastic. Some contain small
parts that can be hazardous to children under 3. I have even ruined
a shirt with ink that leaked from one of those free pens. Do you really
want that junk?
Advertising
on - Shopping carts, food items, shipping boxes, telephones, sidewalks,
clothing, purses, tee-shirts, baseball hats, trash cans, book covers,
mugs, magnets, paperweights, candy bars.
No permission,
never, not once.
The fact
of the matter is, most marketing is intrusive and unwanted but without
it we would not have the standard of living we enjoy, the economy that
employs us, or the products and services that we do love. The new pre-occupation
with privacy and Spam, if applied to all marketing, would seriously
inhibit our commerce, destroy our economy and reduce our standard of
living.
Robert
Fleming is the president of the eMarketing Association. He regularly
speaks at marketing trade shows, seminars and other events.
For more information email: fleming@the-ema.com
or visit www.emarketingassociation.com
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Guidelines: May be freely published with bylines and links.