Back at end of the first Quarter of 2010 a Mail shot began appearing in the letter boxes of smaller Businesses across Britain, in this case from Cardell Media. Small Business receive Mailshots all the time, so nothing unusual in that.
But this one not only resulted in a complaint to the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) but also a number of Business Owners decided to air their views via their Blogs.
The reaction to the Blog posts was rapid, with Cease and Desist notices arriving by Courier with at least some originating from the San Diego, California firm of lawyers: Preovolos & Associates. Interesting as the Mail shot originated in the UK, was posted in the UK - 2nd Class Stamp it appears being used and Cardell Media is UK based and whilst some of the Blogs may have been Hosted on US based Servers, most would have been either UK, or European Server Sites, so exactly what, if any legal, weight these Notices have, is a question I would appreciate being answered.
These Notices frightened off many bloggers who removed their posts, others either held out (whilst blogging the receipt of the Cease and Desist Notice), or removed the post and then blogged why they had removed the Post!
The ASA also moved rapidly and they concluded that the marketing techniques were in multiple breaches of CAP (Committee of Advertising Practises) and have advised Cardell Media to stop all marketing of this nature, as of April 2010. Complaints were upheld in respect to the advertisements both making unsubstantiated claims and not making clear it was marketing material.
The full ASA Ruling can be found here: ASA Adjudication on Cardell Media Ltd
But fast forward to July 2010 and The Register reports that a remarkably similar Mail shot to the one which the ASA has already Adjudicated on, is once more appearing in the Letter Boxes of Small Businesses across the UK.
Extract from 'The Register' News Item:
A spokesman for the ASA told us that it was well aware that Cardell Media was ignoring its earlier ruling. He said:
'We've not had complaints but our investigators do follow up to check companies are following our rulings. We're working with various partners to try and get this stopped. We can also look at other sanctions - like getting their mass mailing discounts removed and work with other regulators and trade bodies.'
We've (The Register Staff) emailed and left messages at Cardell Media with no success.
END Extract from 'The Register'
I shall be most interested in following what further action the ASA takes, if any, against Cardell Media Ltd.
But this one not only resulted in a complaint to the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) but also a number of Business Owners decided to air their views via their Blogs.
The reaction to the Blog posts was rapid, with Cease and Desist notices arriving by Courier with at least some originating from the San Diego, California firm of lawyers: Preovolos & Associates. Interesting as the Mail shot originated in the UK, was posted in the UK - 2nd Class Stamp it appears being used and Cardell Media is UK based and whilst some of the Blogs may have been Hosted on US based Servers, most would have been either UK, or European Server Sites, so exactly what, if any legal, weight these Notices have, is a question I would appreciate being answered.
These Notices frightened off many bloggers who removed their posts, others either held out (whilst blogging the receipt of the Cease and Desist Notice), or removed the post and then blogged why they had removed the Post!
The ASA also moved rapidly and they concluded that the marketing techniques were in multiple breaches of CAP (Committee of Advertising Practises) and have advised Cardell Media to stop all marketing of this nature, as of April 2010. Complaints were upheld in respect to the advertisements both making unsubstantiated claims and not making clear it was marketing material.
The full ASA Ruling can be found here: ASA Adjudication on Cardell Media Ltd
But fast forward to July 2010 and The Register reports that a remarkably similar Mail shot to the one which the ASA has already Adjudicated on, is once more appearing in the Letter Boxes of Small Businesses across the UK.
Extract from 'The Register' News Item:
A spokesman for the ASA told us that it was well aware that Cardell Media was ignoring its earlier ruling. He said:
'We've not had complaints but our investigators do follow up to check companies are following our rulings. We're working with various partners to try and get this stopped. We can also look at other sanctions - like getting their mass mailing discounts removed and work with other regulators and trade bodies.'
We've (The Register Staff) emailed and left messages at Cardell Media with no success.
END Extract from 'The Register'
I shall be most interested in following what further action the ASA takes, if any, against Cardell Media Ltd.
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