Days after the launch of the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call Registry, designed to reduce the number of telemarketing calls, consumers have said that they find unsolicited marketing via their inboxes an even bigger pest than phone calls.
The survey, conducted by InsightExpress, polled 300 people during a 36-hour period in late June 2003. The respondents said they received 16 times more spam or unsolicited emails than they did telemarketing calls.
InsightExpress president and chief operatng officer Lee Smith said: "Clearly, bad marketing practices have caused spam to reach critical mass with consumers. The recent unveiling of the FTC Do Not Call Registry should serve as a wake-up call to marketers and market research ogranisations."
Meanwhile, researchers have discovered that leading spam-blocking systems, including Yahoo!'s email processor, are blocking email confirmations sent from the Federal Do Not Call Registry to those who have signed on to the service.
As of yesterday, 45% of consumers aware of the service had signed up to it.
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