Industry rides out fresh BBC attack

The DM industry has escaped unscathed from the BBC’s latest attempt to discredit direct mail – broadcast last night on That’s Britain – after the tables were turned on the actual programme, amid criticism that it was just ‘Daily Mail’ TV.
Trade body DMA had been bracing itself for an all-out attack, even arming members with crib-sheets and urging them to join the debate on Twitter.
However, despite some bizarre statistics produced by the show – including the ‘fact’ that junk mail was responsible for 5 million dead trees, equivalent to 50,000 double-decker buses – reporter Grainne Seoige’s 8-minute slot failed to live up to the ‘shock horror’ billing.
Despite critical public vox-pops, she interviewed DMA chief Chris Combemale, who successfully argued that the industry was a vital part of the UK economy. Meanwhile Environment Minister Caroline Spelman promoted the soon-to-be-launched opt-out website.
Seoige conceded that she had initially thought direct mail was annoying, but had to admit that the consequences of banning it – including the effects it would have on Royal Mail and other businesses – would be detrimental. Even co-presenter Nick Knowles admitted it was an effective medium for local traders.
On Twitter, the public’s ire appeared to be directed towards the show.
Kerron Cross tweeted: “This is like all the worst bits of That’s Life, The One Show and Watchdog all rolled into one.”
Mr-Neurosceptic added: “Just a straight-to-VHS remake of That’s Life directed by the man behind the GoCompare.com horror films,” and Uwitness said: “That’s Britain has a ‘team of intrepid reporters’ – otherwise known as ‘a team of desperate has-been F-list celebs’.
Meanwhile Brokenbottleboy was one of many to compare the show to a certain national newspaper, by tweeting: “Essentially, That’s Britain is a television broadcast by the provisional wing of the Daily Mail.”

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1 Comment on "Industry rides out fresh BBC attack"

  1. Charlie says: At last, a relatively balanced story about advertising mail. Interesting that presenter Grainne Seoige actually changed her mind over the so-called ‘junk mail menance’ once she had done some investigating, recognising the benefits for Royal Mail and, ultimately, consumers and businesses. And good to see the DMA finally getting media savvy. Will this be the end of the industry backlash? Unlikely, but it does show the huge strides being made to combat negative publicity.

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