Marketers Try To Self-Regulate To Prevent Mobile Spam

from the good-luck... dept

Tue, Dec 2nd 2003 8:20pm — Mike Masnick

Seeing just how bad email spam has become, a group of marketers have come together to agree to a "code of conduct" to prevent mobile spam. With the recent laws against telemarketing and email spam, they're realizing that if they let things get out of control, they'll be next. The code includes (amazingly!) that marketers will only send mobile messages to those who opt-in (unlike the current email law), and promise to provide easy opt-out instructions. Finally (and why they had to put this in shows just how out of touch many marketers are with their job function) they promise that any mobile marketing message will "deliver something of value" to the customer - and not just be blatant pitches all the time. It's a good start, but I'm still cynical enough to wonder whether or not those who agreed to it will really abide by it, and whether or not it will really matter as traditional spammers increasingly send messages to phones themselves. It's easy for marketers to say they'll live by this sort of rule, but as soon as someone breaks the code of conduct, and there's no real punishment, someone else will feel that they need to break it too ("just to stay competitive"). Meanwhile, traditional spammers couldn't care any less about what some marketing group agrees to, and will continue to send annoying spam messages any way they possibly can.

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7 Comments

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Beck, 2 Dec 2003 @ 9:56pm

My Phone, Stay Away
My phone is for my own use and convenience, not for marketers. They don't seem to understand this. I want no marketing messages at all, ever.

Text messages are very useful when delivering information to me that I have requested to receive. Weather reports, flight updates, etc. If I start receiving "marketing" messages then the feature becomes useless and will have to be turned off.
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Arnold Layne, 2 Dec 2003 @ 11:03pm

punishment for spammers / scammers / etc
This is no joke. The kind of punishment I would like to be implemented, involves the cutting off of fingers (just as a warning), followed by the seizure of all the spammer's (insert other scum here) assets and deportation to a miserable part of the planet, preferably arctic Russia. Again, I'm not kidding. If they turn up again, death, execution style.
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alternatives, 3 Dec 2003 @ 1:31am

The backlash would be strong.
People actually *gasp* PAY for the mobile phone.

The 'messages' cost consumers money. In my case $0.05 a message. (I have not went with 'free' messaging as the messaging has not shown me to have value.)

Phones are also under the control of the FCC.

So, if "phone spam" starts approaching the problem e-mail spam is one of 2 things will happen:
1) messaging on phones will become 'free'
2) various laws w/fines will be passed.

At the point where the 'out of pocket expense' per message becomes $0.00, the phone spamming race will be off!
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Mike (profile), 3 Dec 2003 @ 6:10am

Re: The backlash would be strong.
Already phone spam is a problem outside the US, so it certainly can happen here as well.
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thecaptain, 3 Dec 2003 @ 6:27am

No Subject Given
"they promise that any mobile marketing message will "deliver something of value" to the customer"

Can SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME what possible VALUE can ANY marketting message deliver in general (much less on a cellphone where *I* have to pay for messages????)

Seriously. Advertising used to have one worthwhile goal...to alert the consumer to the existence of a product...Now however, its evolved into marketting where the goals are 1) Bombard the consumer constantly in the hope SOME sucker will buy a useless product, 2) Using said constant bombardement, encourage a society of sheep to make it easier for marketters to sucker and 3) trick the rest of the non-sheep by bending the truth so their products sell.

I've yet to see a marketter that WASN'T an evil slick S.O.B. (most take pride in it).

Marketters out there who read this, please...come on...post, tell me what's GOOD and WORTHWHILE to society with what you do.
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Mike (profile), 3 Dec 2003 @ 6:39am

Re: No Subject Given
There actually are plenty of good marketers out there. You just don't see them because their job isn't to be seen.

The real point of marketing is to find out what people need, and then figure out a way to provide it to them. Notice that doesn't mean promoting the crap out of something no one wants.
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thecaptain, 3 Dec 2003 @ 6:40pm

Re: No Subject Given
I know Mike, forgive my ranting but marketing is a pet peeve of mine.

I truly believe that the field started out the way you describe...I also truly believe that it has evolved from that into what we see it today.

I just can't see, or accept that there are marketers out there who truly try and figure out how to give people what they want or need. Its simply no longer about that...the marketing field seems to behave as if it universally believes that WE (the people) simply do not matter anymore, that we are simply biomass for the industry to feed and manipulate.

I guess it would be nice to SEE the "good ones" that AREN'T seen as you say.
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