OK, so whilst this was obviously an interview based program rather than a specific report by a journalist, the fact that the BBC found it significant enough to put it on their site speaks volumes for the lack of education amongst their staff AND consumers out there relating to Email marketing and SPAM and most importantly the difference between the two.
I find it totally in accurate that some one assumes that all the marketing material they receive is SPAM, yesm granted, SOME might be SPAM, particularly those from Gumtree, but the lady her self states she has opted-in, or in laymans terms chosen to receive email notifications, therefore its not SPAM.
Once she opts out, then it becomes SPAM as its now unsolicited, but she needs to identify each individual marketing company and opt out from that list.
the key points here in relation email marketing that are pointed out here are both clients and consumers should read the small print and understand can-spam laws before signing up to receive emails from companies and third parties, there also need to be more education (not BBC scare mongering) to help legitimize and control email marketing on the internet.
Regardless, BBC with is public awareness in influence needs to get some decent journalists and researchers who aren’t into scare mongireing and miss information, but will present a legitimate and balanced report worthy of consumers and the general public…shame on you BBC