nusance politicians turn to telemarketing in desperate atempt for support
economist article re-entitled | 23.03.2002 11:04
Telemarketing and politics
“Honey, George Bush is on the line”
Mar 21st 2002 | CHICAGO
From The Economist print edition
Politicians can now phone millions of voters. Unfortunately
AP
Am I bothering you?
A TYPICAL evening in Chicago. First the mayor, Richard Daley, rings up to speak about the Illinois Democratic primary on March 19th. Not long after that, Senator Richard Durbin and former Senator Paul Simon both phone to give their thoughts. Then Gloria Steinem calls to mention how much she likes the Republican candidate for governor.
Has your correspondent become a power-broker in Illinois politics? Well, yes, of course. But he is also the victim of a relatively new technology that marries the worst two nightmares of any soul who wants to eat supper in peace: windy politicians and telemarketing.
Voice-broadcasting technology now enables a politician to record a message, which may be anything from a few seconds to several minutes long, on to a computer, load the phone numbers of the voters to be targeted, and then “blast” the message to some 140,000 phone numbers at a time, or millions of households a day. Officials at one blaster firm, Xpedite, reckon that it costs eight cents a call for its “voice-reach” service to connect politicians with voters, compared with 35 cents for a live telemarketer to make the call.
Does it sway voters? Politicians seem to think so. The technology first reared its ugly head in tightly contested areas of the 2000 presidential race. (John McCain was the victim of a particularly nasty and effective blasting campaign by unofficial supporters of the current president.) Since then, Xpedite says it has done work for candidates in more than 45 states. The firm is almost fully booked for the November elections.
Politicians are not the only ones who want to blast their thoughts into phone-owners' ears. Businesses can deliver urgent news to customers; stockbrokers can give clients hot tips; schools can tell parents their kids didn't turn up, or that school is shut; cities can tell people that a storm is on its way. Supper in America will never be the same, now that George Bush may ring up at any moment.
“Honey, George Bush is on the line”
Mar 21st 2002 | CHICAGO
From The Economist print edition
Politicians can now phone millions of voters. Unfortunately
AP
Am I bothering you?
A TYPICAL evening in Chicago. First the mayor, Richard Daley, rings up to speak about the Illinois Democratic primary on March 19th. Not long after that, Senator Richard Durbin and former Senator Paul Simon both phone to give their thoughts. Then Gloria Steinem calls to mention how much she likes the Republican candidate for governor.
Has your correspondent become a power-broker in Illinois politics? Well, yes, of course. But he is also the victim of a relatively new technology that marries the worst two nightmares of any soul who wants to eat supper in peace: windy politicians and telemarketing.
Voice-broadcasting technology now enables a politician to record a message, which may be anything from a few seconds to several minutes long, on to a computer, load the phone numbers of the voters to be targeted, and then “blast” the message to some 140,000 phone numbers at a time, or millions of households a day. Officials at one blaster firm, Xpedite, reckon that it costs eight cents a call for its “voice-reach” service to connect politicians with voters, compared with 35 cents for a live telemarketer to make the call.
Does it sway voters? Politicians seem to think so. The technology first reared its ugly head in tightly contested areas of the 2000 presidential race. (John McCain was the victim of a particularly nasty and effective blasting campaign by unofficial supporters of the current president.) Since then, Xpedite says it has done work for candidates in more than 45 states. The firm is almost fully booked for the November elections.
Politicians are not the only ones who want to blast their thoughts into phone-owners' ears. Businesses can deliver urgent news to customers; stockbrokers can give clients hot tips; schools can tell parents their kids didn't turn up, or that school is shut; cities can tell people that a storm is on its way. Supper in America will never be the same, now that George Bush may ring up at any moment.
economist article re-entitled