Was Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, correct to “out” PR practitioners who send him unsolicited e-mails?
The “outing” made headlines on 5 November in the New York Times Technology section, after Anderson ripped into the PR people who “can’t be bothered to find out who on my staff, if anyone, might actually be interested in what they’re pitching”.
Anderson says he gets more than 300 e-mails a day. Some of these were from the leading public relations firms, including Edelman, Fleishman-Hillard, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and Weber Shandwick. Anderson says they should know better.
The debate is split. Some people believe Anderson breached privacy etiquette. Most, however, are with him.
I agree with Anderson. One of the golden rules, particularly in today’s fragmented market, is to research your audience and target only those media that cater for that audience. You would think “professionals” would know this. Obviously not.
It’s a good lesson for them, particularly as their addresses have now been harvested by email bots. You’ve heard about payback, well Anderson is getting some (deserved) “bounceback”.
1 response so far ↓
John Stodder // 7 November, 2007 at 11:54 am |
Check out the comments on his original post. The stock photography salesman who complains that Anderson could have just gone into his e-mail and hit the “unsubscribe” button is hilariously self-centered. Basically, he explains, he makes a lot of money spamming people, he spent a lot of money for the list Anderson was on, demands to know why, if he didn’t want to be on a list like this he gave out his e-mail address…and then asked to be removed from the “blocked” list. So he can send more unwanted e-mails?
Others complained that listing their addresses will subject them to…wait for it…SPAM. As in, don’t try to tell me not to spam you, I’ll get spam.
It’s not just the PR industry…we’ve got a generation of completely self-involved people who rationalize everything they do.