Telemarketing Group Agrees To Obey Do Not Call

from the where's-the-catch? dept

Well, here’s a twist in the on-again, off-again (then on-again, off-again again) national “do not call” list. The Direct Marketing Association (one of the main parties in the lawsuit that says the list violates the First Amendment) has said that even though the list has been blocked, its members will agree not to call those on the list. So, this raises some questions. Why did they bring the lawsuit in the first place if they have no problem obeying the list? Did they suddenly become enlightened overnight and realize that people who say they don’t want to receive calls probably are a waste of their time and money? I doubt it. Chances are it has occurred to someone at the DMA (they are marketers, even if very weak ones) that continuing to call people who are on the list after October 1st would be such a PR nightmare that it would do a lot more harm than good. What they’re probably hoping for is that this situation will get dragged out in the courts, and people will begin to pay less attention to it, and then, if the ruling stands, they’ll slowly start ignoring the list again. There won’t be any fines to pay, since the list won’t be a law, and so if anyone gets angry, the offending telemarketer will get a slap on the wrist and move on.


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Comments on “Telemarketing Group Agrees To Obey Do Not Call”

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4 Comments
xdroop says:

A History Lesson

Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any
unwanted communication, whatever its merit. We therefore
categorically reject the argument that a vendor has a right under the
Constitution or otherwise to send unwanted material into the home of
another.

    – Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1970

This ‘First Ammendment’ crap is really tiring. When will you Americans get it? The right to free speach means the freedom to speak without restriction — but it in no way guarantees you the right to compel any target audience to listen to you.

Precision Blogger (user link) says:

Mike, Don't be silly...

The Telemarketers have figured out that it might be good business to concentrate on the people who have not joined the do not call list. But in case that doesn’t work for them, they’d love to be able to call everyone again. They’re just trying to keep their F**king options open.

Bear mind that some of the people on the do not call list are “Stop me before I sin again” people, who desperately want to avoid buying lots more stuff from telemarketers. If the TMS could market to people on the do not call list who have bought at least three things from TMs, they might have a goldmine.

– The Precision Blogger
precision-blogging.blogspot.com

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