I sure hope that you're not getting all of the political robocalls that I've been getting for the last week. Here in Boston, we're heading into a competitive election for mayor as our current mayor runs for his fifth term. With highly competitive races in New Jersey, Virginia, and other states across the U.S., I'm sure there are many others out there who feel my pain.
How Do Politicians Get Away With This?
Robocalls are made by all political parties in the United States, because they are exempt from the United States National Do Not Call Registry. Political groups are excluded from the FTC definition of telemarketer, so robocalls from or on behalf of political organizations are still permitted on the federal level.
Robocalls Can't Be Effective, Can They?
Telemarketing on the whole is often looked at as unethical because of the high-pressure sales techniques during unsolicited calls. More importantly, robocalls are considered annoying, especially when they occur during the dinner hour, early in the morning, or late in the evening.
I'll bet that in the case of the calls that I've been getting, no one even takes the time to check whether the calls are effective or not. Because all of the candidates are employing telemarketing tactics, the campaigns probably just feel that it's a competitive necessity to make sure that every candidate is doing the same thing and being equally annoying.
By the time the votes are counted on election day, we'll know who the winner of each election is. With all campaigns disbanding immediately after the winner/loser parties on election night, I doubt there's a team of marketers around performing any analysis on which marketing tactics worked best for each candidate after the election.
Try Stopping the Insanity!
Before we all just breathe a sign of relief the day after the elections, let's work to stop these calls from politicians for the next election. Former John Kerry campaigner, Shaun Dakin has started the National Political Do Not Contact Registry a non-partisan grass-roots movement to take control back by asking our elected representatives to stop calling us at home. This is more of an Internet petition with no guarantee that any robocallers are actually paying attention, but you might feel better for trying.