Jesus preached the gospel of turning the other cheek, but what would he have said about spam?
Fans of superstar Christian singer Amy Grant have been eagerly awaiting the release of her 17th album, Legacy, Hymns & Faith. What they haven't been eagerly awaiting is the marketing campaign that Grant's record label, Word Records, is unleashing upon them.
Fans visiting Grant's site are greeted with a seemingly innocuous contest to win free passes to a performance and a chance to meet the star. The person who forwards the press release to the most people is the grand prizewinner.
Although the Web page contains a disclaimer about spam, fans and anti-spam activists are still full of righteous fury.
"This is unethical, plain and simple," wrote Grant fan "TommyBee" on the Usenet discussion board rec.music.artists.amy-grant. "I love Amy and her music, and I want people to know about Legacy, but I just don't think this kind of bulk e-mail is the way to do it."
Another fan named Denise added in an e-mail: "I get upwards of 50 spams a day and don't need well-meaning friends sending me more as well as getting me on to a mailing list I don't want to be on. And then possibly sending me more spam by selling my information."
"There are better ways to promote the records. This contest is over the edge of what is acceptable," fan Arald den Braber wrote on the board.
Nevertheless, this type of campaign is becoming increasingly trendy as marketers realize the cost benefits, despite the equally growing adverse reaction. Many Internet direct advertisers, such as Responsible Electronic Communications Alliance, have developed privacy standards and direct heavy criticism toward marketers who send unsolicited forms of advertising.
"It's an amazing thought," said Martha Rogers, co-founder of Peppers & Rogers Group, a management consulting firm. "They are trying to get people to get other people to sell for them. I don't really care what they call it, a chain-letter or spam."
Rogers insists this form of advertising doesn't work and gives marketers a bad name. "Real companies don't use these methods of advertising," she said.
Word Records is hardly the first record company to use spam as a marketing tool. In May 2001, a marketing campaign by Aimee Mann's record company surprised Napster users downloading Mann's songs with an instant message.
And opposition from her fans isn't 100 percent. "The concept of spamming for Amy, in my opinion, is to get a list of people that might not otherwise know or be touched by her music," discussion board poster "KCgarg schreef" wrote. "From that perspective, I can do it.
"The delete button is just a keystroke away for those who choose not to read on."
The fine line between grassroots fan base information exchange and contest promoting through these same means can be deceptive.
Word Records' "clever" marketing technique, Rogers said, falls just short of using word-of-mouth to disseminate information because offering a reward removes objectivity from the scenario.
"If (Word Records) truly wanted the message to go out to friends of fans, they'd only need to ask fans to pass on the message to (those) who'd be interested," anti-spam activist Brian Atkins said. "Providing a prize for whoever spams the most e-mail addresses turns it into something more unwholesome. Wordrecords.com is increasing the amount of garbage in people's mailboxes, and manipulating her fans into dubious behavior to do so."
Information about how the contest will be judged and what will happen to the information collected by all the Amy Grant chain letters is unavailable. Efforts to reach Word Records proved fruitless.
At Word's ISP, API Digital, Rod Montgomery, chief geek, professed no knowledge about the company's campaign. "We actively enforce an anti-spam policy," he said. "I have received one spam-cop complaint regarding this mailing. We don't have a policy specific to 'chain letters,' as they're typically forwarded about by end users, not organizations."
In the meantime, many Amy Grant fans remain optimistic about Grant's upcoming album but are choosing to opt out of the controversial contest promotion.
"I'd love to enter a contest to see Amy but never, never would I send one junk e-mail to anyone to do it," wrote Denise.
