The Latin word “advertire” from which we get the word “advertising” means “to turn towards”. I am not sure of the Latin opposite, but It is quite possible to imagine resisting this pressure to be turned towards something – indeed we all of us do it all the time.

But a quick look at the world of direct mail shows that for some people simple resistance to the advertising is not enough, for there are some people who are against the whole process of trying to persuade someone to do something. Indeed for some the resistance to advertising as a process is so absolute that is close to fear, or even paranoia or phobia.

People with advertire-phobia are usually very selective in the advertising they dislike. They might quite readily read magazines or newspapers packed with advertisements or listen to commercial radio and watch commercial television, all without comment, but can on occasion be found ranting against direct mail and going to great lengths to ensure that it does not arrive in their home or at their place of work.

Obviously it is possible that the dislike of a particular type of advertising can be a rational view, a dislike of the moral or ethical or artistic nature of the work, and whether this is the case can readily be seen by the way in which people engaging in such “preferences” are able to debate the issue.

Not to like radio advertising because it is highly repetitive and treats one as if one has the IQ of a backward banana is one thing. But to expect commercial radio to continue without advertising is such an obvious contradiction as to suggest that maybe there is an element of phobia there.

This was where we once got to with direct mail, with people wanting to have a cheap postal service, but refusing to accept that there also had to be advertising within the postal service, to pay for low cost postage.

But now it seems we don’t hear these claims any more. What we hear are some people getting fed up with email, but not with the post.

And this is for the simple reason that the amount of post being sent out by companies is a fraction of what it was 10 years ago. And that has a double benefit for postal advertisers. First, the endless newspaper argument against postal direct mail has gone – because no one is much interested. And second, response rates have risen dramatically because people have far less mail to read.

Hamilton House supplies a wide range of mailing lists, and can arrange the full service of fulfilment of the mailing. If you would like to enquire about any postal mailing list, please do call 01536 399 000.

Hamilton House Mailings Ltd reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB. Phone 01536 399 000.