Privacy

In marketing communications, issues of privacy have historically been the province of direct marketing. However, new technologies - particularly the Internet - have spurred an "interpersonalization" (or "demassification") of advertising. This has wrought a blurring of the lines that traditionally separated various types of marketing communication. In years past, advertising was one-way communication through a mass medium. Today, it is taking on characteristics of direct marketing, enabling two-way communication between buyer and seller. As a result, it inherits some of the legal and ethical considerations of direct marketing, which largely concern invasion of consumers' privacy. For more information, see:

Privacy in the Electronic Age. A speech by FTC Commissioner Christine A. Varney, November 1995.