Hypocritical Daily Mail outraged again

The Daily Mail is rallying its army of outraged readers against what it claims will be a “junk mail deluge” triggered by Royal Mail’s “secret” programmatic trial which will target consumers with mailings based on their Internet shopping habits. 
Under the headline: “Millions are facing junk mail deluge: Secret Royal Mail plan to deliver marketing letters to shoppers who simply click on a product online”, the newspaper claims the news has “sparked fears that households will be ‘deluged’ with more junk post”.
Of course, what it fails to report is that the Mail has a huge direct marketing operation itself, and even sells its own readership data to all and sundry.
Berating the fact that Royal Mail “earns £3m a day from junk mail”, it also chooses to ignore the fact that as one of the few profitable parts of the business direct mail props up the Universal Service – viewed as a national treasure by Mail readers and journalists alike.
The title once wrote: “Since 1840, under the much loved Universal Service it has been possible to post a letter anywhere in Britain from the Cornish coast to the Scottish highlands for the same price.”
The Mail even trundles out Daniel Nesbitt, of Big Brother Watch, who said: “These plans mean that not only will people be bombarded by targeted adverts, they could also be deluged by letters, often with no knowledge of why or how Royal Mail have got hold of this information.
“Businesses must think very carefully about how they inform their customers about their part in the scheme … People have a right to know where this kind of marketing is coming from and most importantly why they’re getting it.”
However, Royal Mail dismissed these concerns, insisting it would not use its own database of addresses in the pilot, and that the trial was to find out whether the firm could send the targeted mail within “a day or two … before the opportunity is lost”.
A spokesman added: “This will help ensure that marketing mail continues to be useful for consumers, and valued by brands.”

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