An apparent handwritten advertising mail-out has landed Skoda in trouble. The letters looked like advice notices from a neighbour, "John from round the corner", and one Essex resident complained that the leaflet resembled personal correspondence. Ad watchdogs have told the car firm to stop sending them.

from AutoExpress

I haven't had one yet. Perhaps LadyLoki arranged for me to be taken off SkodaAuto UK's mailing list following their recent faux pas in trying to sell me a vRS Estate...

Received one of those a few months ago.

Is it really an offence to distribute stuff that "resembles personal correspondence"? And more to the point, how dumb must they have been to not realise that it wasn't?!

Rob.

Just another example of the state thinking for us...

Not the state this time.

The Advertising Standards Authority is run by the advertising industry, to enforce self-regulation and to ensure that no individual agencies misbehave.

Just another example of the state thinking for us...

Suppose we should be thankful really, I mean, god forbid we have some element of creative imagination in advertising...just think some poor soul might have gone out and bought a Skoda thinking that some chap called John round the corner really *had* written them a letter, and also decided to include those pre-printed brochures he had to hand...

There is a word for these kind of people, but I'm not going to say it here for fear of being labelled politically incorrect...

Rob.

Suppose we should be thankful really' date=' I mean, god forbid we have some element of creative imagination in advertising...just think some poor soul might have gone out and bought a Skoda thinking that some chap called John round the corner really *had* written them a letter, and also decided to include those pre-printed brochures he had to hand...

There is a word for these kind of people, but I'm not going to say it here for fear of being labelled politically incorrect...

Rob.[/quote']

For once, the Americans have a really good word for these people - "dumbass"

I actually thought Skoda were being quite clever with those letters... they made us smile!

I got some 'junk' mail from Sony like that, it was for a PS2 Formula One game. The letter arrived in an airmail type envelope with a normal stamp on it, the address appeared to be handwritten.

On the inside was a page that looked as if it had been taken from a reporters pad (the ones with the wire hoops round the top) - again with 'handwritting' message on the paper. The letter was written from a young lad who was writting a fan letter to you as if you were a world famous Formula One driver. Also included was a page of a PS2 magazine that had been ripped out (it had a tear down one side).

I'll probably sound like a right numpty, but I was like 'what the...' for about 5 minutes ;-)

I think I've still got it somewhere...

Junk mail - don't you just HATE IT!!! :mad2:

I do my very BEST to ensure none of it gets looked at, let alone read. I'm getting quite good at spotting it even in its sneakiest forms, I think.

I had a good email about what to do with it a while back - I'll see if I can dig it out ...

I do my very BEST to ensure none of it gets looked at, let alone read. I'm getting quite good at spotting it even in its sneakiest forms, I think.

But Nick, supposing it was *your* company that needed to advertise - how would you do it? Would it really annoy you that you're going to all the effort of providing a service and trying to advertise it to people, and they are so concerned about a few sheets of paper going through their letter box they immediately throw it away/tear it up/set their dog loose, before settling back down to watch Pop Idol on ITV (no intrusive adverts there then!)?

Do you know how happy it makes someone handing out flyers if you actually go up to them and ask for one? Is the sparkle of happiness you can provide to another human being's life not infinitely more important than being bothered about having too much paper?

Walk a mile in someone else's shoes, etc.

Rob.

If you don't want junk mail, subscribe to the Mail Preference Service here. It doesn't work as well as the Telephone Preference Service because it does not stop unaddressed advertising literature which some companies may be using as a means of getting around the MPS restrictions. BTW, has anyone used the E-mail Preference Service and, if so, does it work?

Rob, Denis,

I DON'T CARE!!!! I own a company. I don't send junk mail. I have better things to spend my money on. I have a few, very few, target customers, and I will do the work myself of contacting them rather than spraying them with junk mail I KNOW nobody will ever read. It just wastes paper, stamps, and the legs of the postman delivering it (having said that, Royal Mail made a profit at last this year. Is this a good thing, or just a waste of taxpayers' money?).

If you think I watch teenage cr@p like Pop Idol, you've got another think coming!!

Already subscribed to the Mail Preference Service, years ago. Still get MOUNTAINS of junk mail.

Really must find this "how to deal with junk mail" epistle. It's brilliant!

Edit: PS found it, or some of it, on the web (what did we do before we had the web?) here it is ...

1. The three little words are: "Hold On, Please..."

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's "beep-beep-beep" tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

2. Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a "real" sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system.

Since doing this, my phone calls have decreased dramatically.

3. Another Good Idea:

When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these "ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 37cents postage "IF" and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before! the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes. One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas. Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing!

Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin getting their own junk back in the mail.

Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea!

Starts tomorrow! I'm dying to get some junk in the mail - especially for a credit card. He he he he he he he he!!!

You can have some of mine. I worked out that, if I take every credit card that I'm offered, I'll have about

I DON'T CARE!!!! I own a company. I don't send junk mail. I have better things to spend my money on. I have a few' date=' very few, target customers, and I will do the work myself of contacting them rather than spraying them with junk mail I KNOW nobody will ever read. It just wastes paper, stamps, and the legs of the postman delivering it (having said that, Royal Mail made a profit at last this year. Is this a good thing, or just a waste of taxpayers' money?).

[/quote']

And how did you find these few target customers? Or, perchance, do you do business-to-business contracting, which is a far cry from supplying to consumers?

And not everyone uses postmen to deliver their advertising - some people do it themselves, and suffer the dog bites and abuse for trying to offer people a genuinely good deal that might save them money.

If I win the lottery, I plan to set up a free phone number and print up some flyers saying "If you want a million pounds, call this free phone number and say 'I'd like a million pounds please'". Then the first person to call it will get a million pounds. That'll teach the petty c***s who are too frightfully busy to spend 20 seconds looking at an advert a lesson...

Rob.