Not The First Case Of Spam Text Advertisements
There have been several cases where companies inundating people with promotional spam text messaging as a strategy to gain their attention. However, this strategy severely backfired and the companies were taken to the court of law and tried for harassment.
A Brief About The Telephone Consumer Protection Act
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act was established in the year 1991 as a result of phone marketing (call marketing) calls being made to random people to promote their services. As a result of receiving random calls, people began complaining to legal bodies against those companies. This is where the TCPA came into existence.
Expansion Of The Act With Technological Advancements
With the rapid growth of mobile phone technology and consumer rate skyrocketing for mobile phone purchases, text messaging soon caught up as a trend. No wonder, companies caught up on text messaging as a means to promote their services/products.
The cycle of annoying promotions took a new form and thus the TCPA expanded its purview to include spam text advertisements. And since then, people have been on an unending tirade to get companies to stop sending them marketing and promotional text messages. Shamis & Gentile, P.A has been one such attorney’s to receive a good number of such complaints.
Taking A Brief Look At Roxanne Gant’s Case
A Brief Introduction
The lawsuit filed by a certain Ms. Roxanne Gant alleged that The Coca-Cola Company, a major corporation unlawfully sent her spam text advertisements to advertise its various promotions.
According to the details of the case, she complained that the whole process of sending multiple unwanted text messages began in September 2018. She stated that one of the messages was regarding some promotional offer that talked about Coke and Walgreens.
Soon she opted out further after receiving spam text advertisements from the company from February 13, 2019. However, she was still inundated with further promotional and marketing messages from the company. This prompted her to get a good attorney like Shamis & Gentile, P.A.
Ms. Gant’s Case Is Legible And Justified And Here’s Why
Like any other major corporation or company with a strong marketing bent, Coca-Cola tried to maximize its marketing reach by starting a text advertisement campaign where random people were targeted by an automated messaging system.
However, a good number of people including Ms. Gant were not interested in availing these offers and hence registered their annoyance by putting the text message number in a ‘do-not-disturb’ list. Despite this, the campaign of spam text advertisements did not stop. It’s logically proven to a case of harassment, although unintentional.
The Case Of Automated Messaging System
How It Began
Automated messaging systems have been used since the mid-2000s by many big companies with a hefty marketing budget. Initially, they were sent by numbers that could be replied to. However, gradually they started using computer-controlled systems where the numbers could not be traced or replied to and it’s here that spam text advertisements began.
Ms. Gant’s Accusation Concerning The Above
According to Ms. Roxanne Gant’s complaint, the message didn’t have any characteristics of a typical mobile number which could be traced back to some origin. Since the messages were very obviously automated, they were likely sent in masses. Many attorneys have been receiving complaints regarding such messages including Shamis & Gentile, P.A.
Also, she stated that the message was sent using a short-code which is a sign of an automated messaging system for sending messages en masse to many phone numbers.
What Does This Case Say About Marketing In America
Marketing Culture Has Expanded And Become Intrusive
Sounds a bit far-fetched, but is true nonetheless. The general marketing culture in America is very on-the-face. Wherever one goes, one comes across marketing and advertisements. This marketing has become intrusive with the advent of mobile phones and even so with the existence of smartphones. This has led to marketing to become very intrusive by getting into people’s personal space.
What Can Be Done To Contain This?
As more and more will take these corporations to the court, there will be an eventual realization that spam text advertisements as a method of advertisement are more loss-inducing rather than profitable endeavors. However, it is going to take some time since they are the ones who hold loads of money and paying amounts such as $1000 or $5000 isn’t a big deal. When these amounts will multiply for more people, it’s then the realization will dawn upon them.
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