Tim Howell’s Weblog

Rant time. Almost every second night for the past several weeks, including both Saturday and Sunday nights, we’ve been called up by one of several research houses looking to survey us for about a product, service or something else.

As a marketer, I completely understand the need for these organizations to understand and analyze what customers want, across a range of demographics and locations. And normally, we would participate in these. Inevitably our details would have been provided to the research houses by virtue of us signing up to something, purchasing a product or service etc. Surely there is a limit to how far this can go?

Recently, though, the volume of these calls has increased, as has the unsociability of many of the calls, to the extent I tend to decline the opportunity to participate. In the US, the Do Not Call Registry (thanks Michael) is designed to provide an opt-out opportunity for these types of communications. Is there - or is there going to be - an equivalent in New Zealand?