Issues in Direct Response Advertising

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CHAPTER VI

ISSUES IN DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISING

A. Overview of Direct Response Advertising

Direct response advertising is a form of commercial advertising

designed to solicit a direct response from consumers, which is specific

and quantifiable. The delivery of the response is “direct” between the

viewer and the advertiser; that is, the customer responds to the marketer

directly. Unlike traditional broadcast advertising where the purpose is

essentially to create an overall knowledge and general demand for a

product or service, the purpose of direct response advertising is to trigger

a sale or inquiry instantaneously.

The direct response industry has its own self-regulatory program run

by the Council for Better Business Bureaus, the Electronic Retailing

Self-Regulation Program (ERSP). According to Section 1.1(A) of the

ERSP Policy and Procedures, the term “direct response advertisement”

or “direct response advertising” is defined as:

[A]ny commercial message, in any electronic medium of

dissemination, in which consumers are asked to place an order or

obtain additional information regarding a product or service by any

means utilizing an electronic device, such as a toll-free telephone

number, e-mail or online request, or interactive TV. Direct response

advertising is also customarily and s ynonymously refe rred to in the

electronic retailing industry as “electronic retailing.”1

The current primary media of direct response advertising are

television, radio, and the internet. Broadcast advertising is typically

disseminated in either short-form (e.g., 60 and 120 seconds) or long form

spots (e.g., 30 minutes), sometimes referred to as infomercials. However,

direct response advertising may include other media, including product

packaging and/or labeling, print advertising, social media marketing,

1. Advertising Self-Regulatory Council, The Electronic Retailing Self-

Regulation Program: Policy & Procedures (as amended Oct. 16, 2012)

Apr. 3, 2012) available at http://www.asrcreviews.org/wp-

content/uploads/2012/12/ERSP-Procedures-Updated-10-16-12.pdf