Question

Principles of Advertising

Question: Explain the privacy issues that involve direct-response communication.

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Direct-response communication - A type of promotional message that motivates an immediate response usually leading to a purchase without the intermediary impact of a retailer or sales representative.

Answer 1

Direct marketing is a method of direct contact with the consumer to generate sales. Types include telemarketing, infomercials on television and mail order. Direct marketing techniques have stretched the way businesses interact with consumers, and there is concern that their data collection methods may infringe public policy. Overcoming such regulations, whether written or unwritten, can have a negative impact on the company's own reputation, which can have a major impact on its revenues.

An issue of great public concern about direct marketing has to do with privacy. For example, telemarketers and mail order sellers should obtain from somewhere their list of potential customers. Although going door-to-door and searching phone numbers in a city phone book may be technically feasible ways to find customer information, assembling databases where private information of individuals is kept is a more realistic way to reach larger amounts of customers Many businesses will even hold, exchange and sell this data as it is gathered when people donate it unknowingly, such as on applications for credit cards. Others question the legality of this activity, but such firms also protect themselves by including fine printing which allows them to sell the data. This leads to concerns about privacy as well as theft of identity.