The Direct Marketing Association has cited five companies for violations of its Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice, and it has referred three of the companies to federal authorities for possible legal action.
None of the companies are DMA members.
Two sweepstakes companies were referred to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service after not responding to DMA Ethics Committee concerns about the intent of their mailings. World Winners Organization of Santa Barbara, CA and Minot, ND, and Pacific Contest Advisory Group Network in Saint Paul, MN, were reported because of potential violations of the Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act.
An online company was referred to the Federal Trade Commission and the North Carolina Attorney General’s office, and two other online marketing companies were named.
Server Warehouse, Jacksonville, NC, was referred to legal authorities because of allegations that the company’s Web site misrepresented its service and its contact information. Server Warehouse did not respond to requests for information, the DMA said.
Image Marketing Group of Coral Springs, FL, and CD Marketing did not respond to the committee’s requests, the DMA said. Both were questioned about what screening procedures they use before putting bulk e-mail lists up for sale.
CD Marketing was cited for violating the guideline calling for every offer to clearly state the marketer’s name and postal address or telephone number. The DMA could not track down a location for the company.
“We hold the entire industry–DMA members and non-members alike–accountable to our Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice,” said H. Robert Wientzen, president and CEO of the DMA, in a statement. “If a company acts in an unethical manner, and does not comply with the DMA Ethics Committee’s request for information, we will publicly cite the company for non-cooperation and refer it to the federal authorities when appropriate.”
The Ethics Committee is composed of 15 direct marketing executives who field complaints about member and non-member marketers. It judges marketer practices and promotions’ compliance with DMA’s ethics guidelines and works to bring companies into compliance.
DMA members who don’t comply with the requests of the committee face public DMA board censure, suspension, or expulsion. Companies that do not respond to the committee’s inquiry that are believed to have violated the law are referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
The DMA is based in New York.
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