Abstract
As part of the transition to democracy, the South African government has expressed its intention to table the Open Democracy Bill, which addresses the issue of the collection and dissemination of personal information. This bill will, in its present form, severely damage the direct marketing industry in South Africa. A literature review of consumer privacy has been completed. A survey of 246 marketers was undertaken. The results show that there are two distinct clusters, a pro-privacy group and an anti-privacy one. In this article some conclusions are developed that are of interest to policy makers and managers.
Highlights
In the infonnation age of computer databases, direct marketing and relationship marketing, the exchange of personal infonnation about individuals has become an integral part of the world economy
Gozebach & Johnson ( 1994) report that press coverage of privacy issues in the five major American newspapers increased from ten articles during 1984 to I05 during 1991
It was found that South African marketers were not overly concerned about consumer privacy and did not see it as a threat to profits
Summary
In the infonnation age of computer databases, direct marketing and relationship marketing, the exchange of personal infonnation about individuals has become an integral part of the world economy. The search for competithe advantage has resulted in companies seeking individual level infonnation about their consumers. Consumers in tum have become increasingly disturbed by privacy invasions, where infonnation is sought using scurrilous and unethical means. Gozebach & Johnson ( 1994) report that press coverage of privacy issues in the five major American newspapers increased from ten articles during 1984 to I05 during 1991. Privacy was one of the ten areas for marketing and public policy research mentioned by Mazis ( 1997). The American Direct Marketing Association recently listed consumer concern over privacy as the most important issue facing direct marketers today (Phelps, Gozenbach & Johnson, 1994: IO). The privacy issue is often linked to direct marketers, but is of relevance to any organization engaging in market research
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