You can contact Angela Razborsek at the ACCC in Canberra (02 6243
1239) for more information about the process.
The ACCC has nothing about this on their web site, and the ADMA site
has only an incomplete version of their draft code.
Please take a look at the section of my site devoted to this matter:
http://www.firstpr.com.au/issues/tm/
it contains:
* HTML file of the ADMA Code, nicely laid out and with the
footnotes which are missing from the version at their
web site.
* Word 6 file of the ACCC's Draft Deterimination.
* The questions and results of ADMA's statistically valid
survey in 1992 (by Quadrant research, with 1,204 telephone
respondents) showing that at least 70% of respondents
find outbound telemarketing unacceptable. Also
graphic images of the original results pages.
* A list of the ADMA's ~370 members.
Only ~28 of the ~370 members are identified as having anything
to do with telemarketing. ADMA is very focused on direct mail.
* Links to the Australian Telemarketing and Call Centre
Association. Why aren't they been mentioned by ADMA or considered
by the ACCC? The ATA have some kind of code which seems to be
more consumer friendly than ADMA's. Its membership is purely to
do with inbound (mainly) and outbound (to a lesser degree)
telemarketing. In March they claimed over a thousand members
(although this would include individuals) with a 70% annual growth
rate - so they are probably bigger than the ADMA. I have the
impression they are a lot more professoinal too.
* Links to some interesting things on the ADMA site:
1 - They claim to have been a factor in John Howard's
backflip in April 97 to abandon privacy legislation
for the corporate sector. They also state they
retain a Canberra-based lobbyist.
2 - They give false advice to consumers - because some of
their advisory material is a cut-and-paste job from
the US DMA.
3 - Their "Don't Call" sheme has a web form, which you
use to give them your name(s), phone number and
address, to add to the list which is distributed to
their 370+ (they claim 500 somewhere) members.
There is a similar scheme for mail.
In both cases your request needs to be repeated
every two years.
* Diagrams which depict outbound telemarketing as one of the
worst forms of marketing/selling. It is a manipulative,
uninformative, form of selling which is generally despised by
consumers.
I will be formulating my comments and making them available on the
web site too.
- Robin
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Robin Whittle rw@firstpr.com.au http://www.firstpr.com.au
Heidelberg Heights, Melbourne, Australia
First Principles Research and expression: music, Internet
music marketing, telecommunications, human
factors in technology adoption. Consumer
advocacy in telecommunications, especially
privacy. Consulting and technical writing.
Real World Electronics and software for music: eg.
Interfaces the Devil Fish mods for the TB-303.
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