STAMPING OUT MISLEADING DIRECT MAIL

When I first started writing an ethics column, my father would regularly urge me to write about a company that kept sending him letters written like bills for a magazine to which he had never subscribed.

At first, he thought that he might have forgotten that he had indicated an interest in the magazine. But it became clear to him that he had never heard of the publication, let alone tried to subscribe to it. The magazine company's sales strategy was simple -- entice him to buy the product by making him think he already wanted it.

I never wrote about the letters. I figured that if my father could figure out that he hadn't subscribed to the publication that sent them to him, there was no harm and no foul.

I was wrong.

Companies engaging in direct mail to consumers have an obligation not to mislead prospective customers. Apparently, it's a message still lost on some companies.

Recently, J.W., a reader from Baltimore, wrote to tell me that he received letters from both a magazine and a company that makes commemorative coins and other memorabilia with the words "invoice enclosed" printed on the envelope.

"Letters from both companies stated or strongly suggested I had ordered product from them and showed the amount I owed," writes J.W. "Several follow-up letters pressed the point. Of course, I had ordered nothing from either."

J.W. wonders if these were just examples of desperation in marketing, or whether they could be attempts "to capitalize on the inattention of a busy consumer." He asks if I see this as a "question of ethics."

I do. And so does the direct mail industry's trade association. On its website, the Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) clearly states that envelope copy of any direct mail efforts must be honest. Its Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice states: "Offers that are likely to be mistaken for bills, invoices, or notices from public utilities or governmental agencies should not be used."

Companies should sell their goods and services aggressively without misleading consumers.

People like my father and J.W. who would like to stop receiving direct mail offers of any kind can do so by going to the DMA's consumer website at www.dmaconsumers.org and clicking on the phrase "remove my name from those lists," which appears on the association's home page. But this step doesn't prevent companies from continuing to make misleading offers to other people.

If a consumer wants to take a stance that may change the behavior of a company that doesn't hew to its own industry standards, the right thing to do is to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection. On the bottom of the FTC's homepage (www.ftc.gov) are the words "file a complaint," which link to the form and procedure.

In a perfect world, companies would follow their own codes of ethics. When they don't, consumers are right to call them to task.