Informal messages, um, mark
new breed of (cough, cough)
telemarketing pitches
“Hi, um, this is Jane, and we’re in your area (cough) with direct satellite TV services.”
“Oh, sorry I missed you (ahem) but you’ll want to know about our new low rates.”
“Now you’re gonna need this, so get ready for your access number.”
Anyone with a phone has probably heard messages like these: recorded voices speaking informally and pitching products. No longer are the messages dry and formal. Rather, they’re punctuated with “ums” and “uhs,” with the idea apparently being to fool listeners into thinking their best friend is calling.
No telemarketers reached by Upsize would own up to what’s behind the trend. The response from the folks at Global Vacation Network, which offers free trips over the phone, was typical. The person at the St. Louis Park office, the phone number left during one call, said the office had nothing to do with the telemarketing and referred calls to Jim Buckingham in Florida.
Says Jim Buckingham: “I’m not familiar with that approach. Our company hires a lot of outside firms to do our telemarketing. I’m in charge of a unit that makes live connections with actual customers.” He offered the number for corporate headquarters for Global Vacation Network. The receptionist there said she had no idea who could answer questions but would try to find someone to give the message to.
Michael Fleming, an attorney at Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis and an expert in Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission rules, is familiar with telemarketers who are “trying to sound like your best friend.” But why wouldn’t telemarketers talk about their friendly messages? They’re probably no longer legal under the new federal do-not-call rules, which went into effect in October but were immediately challenged on First Amendment grounds.
“I’d have to parse it out, and you can’t hold me to this, but I would bet that what’s just described is a violation of the new law,” Fleming says about the recorded messages. “The circumstances where you can use prerecorded voices will be very, very limited. It’s already proscribed against in Minnesota, but it’s not enforced very much.”
Michael Fleming, Faegre & Benson: 612.766.6920; mfleming@faegre.com
