Plea to Holyrood not to ban junk mail

Published on Sunday 9 September 2007 00:40

BUSINESSES will this week urge the Scottish Government not to cave in to demands by campaign groups to ban junk mail.

The Scottish Direct Marketing Association (DMA), whose members include Lloyds TSB Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland, will attempt to persuade MSPs that junk mail and other forms of direct marketing make a substantial contribution to the Scottish economy when it publishes its first report into the state of the industry.

The association estimates that direct marketing adds 2.97bn to the economy every year. Direct marketing companies account for 90,000 jobs in Scotland or 3.7% of the total employment market, the report claims.

Yvonne Balfour, chair of the Scottish DMA and managing director of Navigator, a direct marketing firm in Edinburgh, said: "It [the industry] is generating a massive amount of income and revenue in all sorts of areas and employs a lot people."

Balfour added that Scottish businesses come under frequent pressure from campaign groups such as stopjunkmail.org.uk, who want to stop advertising leaflets and free newspapers for environmental reasons. Companies that advertise via the internet have also come under attack for bombarding consumers with unwanted e-mails.

But the association claims direct marketing creates a significant amount of business for Scottish companies.

"In Scotland, we are in a great position to grow businesses using direct mail as a technique," said David Metcalfe, head of wholesale banking at Lloyds TSB Scotland and board member of the DMA.

He added that DMA members adhere to a code of conduct. The industry is also introducing more green measures and is reducing the number of free leaflets it distributes, he said.

The association is predicting that the industry will continue to show significant growth over the next five years, with many opportunities particularly for technology companies.

Balfour said: "Over the next two to five years we'll see big changes in the media that is used and how we're using it."