Salon: The day the dinnertime phone calls stopped

I've got this theory that intrusive promotional techniques such as telemarketing and spam cause a negative echo effect across all forms of advertising and marketing. In short, intrusive format are gradually changing the way people perceive and relate to advertising/marketing message.

As I'm sure you are aware, the introduction of the "do not call list" has been a huge success registering 23 million numbers since its introduction on the 27th June. This article quotes predictions that by Oct 1, when the "do not call list" becomes active, 60 million numbers will have become unavailable to telemarketers.

The author of this piece argues that this new initiative may have a highly detrimental effect on the economy, as 4% of sales are currently linked to telesales, not to mention the 4 million jobs that are under threat. My answer to that is - if you carry on annoying people with overly intrusive formats you risk permanent and serious damage to the whole industry. Telemarketing was never sustainable - let it die.