Hooked

Chapter 15

Direct mail

A January 2014 Daily Mail article reported on an American cat who hated junk mail – every time the postman tried to deliver some, he’d get such a ferocious mauling that he once lost a glove.¹

Well, actually the cat attacked anything that came through the letterbox – and it was probably acting out its catty instincts rather than expressing a distaste for the occasional unwanted SkyMall brochure. However, the spin given to the story highlights a salient point: we love to hate direct mail.

In fact, a 2004 BBC documentary, Brassed-Off Britain, conducted a poll and found that junk mail was deemed the number one most irritating thing in the country – supported by a survey finding that two-thirds of Brits objected to direct mail ...