Permission marketing is intrusive advertising: The issues surrounding junk mail and Spam - Essay Example

This essay "Permission marketing is intrusive advertising: The issues surrounding junk mail and Spam" outlines different arguments and points of view on the usage of spam as a form of advertising. If the old adage ‘time is money’ is correct, then stolen time is stolen money. The theft of a few seconds will not cause a person to lose their livelihood but that is similar to saying stealing one item from a chain store won’t bankrupt the company. Wrong on a small scale is still wrong. Spammers may argue that junk mail does not have the same effect as stealing because there is an opt-out option choice on the email, but the time spent reading, following the link and then the steps necessary to stop the spam is time lost.

Multiply that 30 seconds of effort by 100’s of spam emails and that is significant money stolen from an individual and/or their employer. “European regulators have moved to adopt what is commonly known as opt-in anti-spam rules that prohibit e-mail marketers from sending promotions to individuals without their prior consent. Lawmakers in the U.S. have expressed a preference for the "opt-out" method where the onus is put on individual users to let companies know that they do not wish to receive spam” (Rhode, 2003).

Adopting Opt-in anti-spam email rules worldwide would limit spam messages, perceived or otherwise, as the consumer would have to make a deliberate choice to receive company generated email. The loss of time and irritation to this point of time is reason enough to enforce stricter spam laws by employing the opt-in rule for email.