I have a proposal. One that might alter the face of Human endeavors forever, and it needs only your cooperation.
When ever any company calls you or emails you, when you did not contact them first, Boycott!
Whether they are offering you insurance, loans, website design or “the candidate of your choice” if you did not start that communication cycle, then Boycott them! Never, ever, do business with that company or interest again.
Won’t always work, of course, as it’s sometimes impossible to tell who is actually calling you. Or the caller can claim a false identity(1).
I have been doing this myself for decades at companies who run especially obnoxious, misleading or predatory advertising (TV, Internet, magazines, what ever). The more obnoxious, the more insulting, the more I will never do business with that company(2).
This rampant invasion through my cell phone into my life, my living room and my wallet has to end. The way to end it is for the consumer (That’s YOU, Bub!) to stop responding to these unsolicited phone calls.
You did not start the call. You did not request a call from so-and-so. They call you, hang up. Don’t let them get another word in, and most definitely do not give them any money. EVER.
And guess what? Those obnoxious phone calls will quit. I guarantee it. It will only require a majority of consumers to start behaving suspiciously at all and any phone calls.
BTW: this applies also to the IRS and Social Security. They won’t call you out-of-the-blue. There’s been a Big Scam going around with fake SocSec phone calls. For such folks — stealing from retired pensioners is about as low a form of existence as can be imagined — life in prison would not be out of line, and might be too gentle. More likely, a life spent serving the community offended might make appropriate amends.
Similarly, any website that throws a dozen ads at me per page, especially those ads that somehow never finish downloading (because they are actively changing second by second) I immediately go somewhere else. If there’s an option for feedback I tell them why I won’t do business with them any more. They slow down my computer; they slow down my internet and they fill my screen with flashing, dancing, buzzing seizure-inducing garbage. Sorry… no sale.
Quit being a perfect Sheeple. Don’t let these predators into your living room.
The “government” can’t stop these electronic home invasions(3). You can, and thereby alter the face of Human Endeavors forever(4).
(1) That’s one to complain to the FCC about, or your country’s equivalent bureau. Big Time. How can some one call me on my cell phone, claiming to want to do business with me, yet their identity is in question? For instance, I guarantee you that if the caller says “this is Microsoft,” he is lying. Absolutely lying. (Unless you requested a call back from Microsoft, of course.) Why isn’t lying about your identity on Federally regulated communication channels a felony crime? Well, it is… but it’s not enforced except in limited instances. Thousands up to millions of such incidents every day; kind of hard to arrest entire nations of people, you know? Still, it’s the FCC’s job, and they’re not doing it, impossible or not.
(2) To be fair, though, very little advertising of any sort works on me. If I need something, I will go seek it out. I do not need to have Dancing Cigarette Boxes decorating my computer screen. It’s annoying, wastes my internet bandwidth on things I’m not the least bit interested in and slows down my computer. On a small scale, advertising does work with me: Passive advertising. Not active, aggressive advertising; that just has the opposite effect on me. I wish it did on all of you, too.
Back in the 1950’s on Television (actual TV, you know? aerials, B&W, fuzzy, small screens, 3 channels if you were lucky…), you might be subjected to the above or even an entire chorus line of such. Subtle, right?
Actually, there’s an even more serious problem with internet advertising. The constant flashing, dancing, blinking can induce seizures in some folks. (Guess how I know?) Why isn’t there an option on all browsers that says “no flashing ads” or “anti-seizure mode for all advertising” or some such? Seems simple enough, technologically. Advertisers would have to cooperate, though, and to get their cooperation would require … well, a lot of effort with those who are of the predatory mind-set. Those of the Service mindset simply need to be informed that their blinking / flashing ads (especially in red or blue, especially blinking around 3 times a second) are harming people. They would change the ads immediately. That’s one difference between the Service Mindset and the Predator Mindset.
(3) Actually, the government could. It would require an entire package: legislative, legal, penal, as well as technological, plus some international cooperation (the hardest part, actually) but it’s do-able. They are just unwilling to do so, partly because of the Huge Money involved in these scam businesses, partly because they don’t actually realize the extent of the problem. Mostly because they have forgotten what the office they occupy is actually for: the people who voted them in, not the Corporates and Special Interests who funded their invasive, aggressive, dis-informative advertising while running for that office. Somewhat Ironic, huh? To borrow a Stephen King-ism: they have forgotten the faces of their fathers.
(4) I was hoping that closing statement would be obvious, but I fear it’s not. What I mean is that there are only two kinds of jobs in the world: those that serve others and those that steal from others. Service or Crime. Service: small services or great ones, doesn’t matter, it adds to the general wealth and well-being of all people, or of the Planet in general. Crime: great or mild, also doesn’t matter here, but predating upon your fellow Human will always lie inside the Criminal Mind and that Mind alone. (Even worse, it’s usually an immature mind, a mind seriously damaged or that has simply failed to reach adult-hood.) If you, the would-be victim of such “crimes” would just stop tolerating this behavior — and you can do that passively, just go somewhere else for your needs, for instance — this behavior would stop being profitable. Then those people would have to shift over to real service to others, which is at least as profitable and far more satisfying. Also more sane and healthy. So there…