Editorial: IPA's DM code need not cause division.(Direct Marketing)

Imposing law and order on the direct marketing industry has never been easy. For one thing, it has always attracted more than its fair share of maverick operators, most of whom can thumb their noses at rules and regulations from the comfort of offices well outside the UK. For another, it is a business that embraces a mass of vested and often conflicting interests.

Against that background, the IPA's decision to introduce its own code of practice for DM is to be welcomed as an important step in helping to maintain the industry's standing with consumers. Of course, it would be naive to believe the IPA is being driven by purely altruistic motives.

A credible code will inevitably lead to some agency defections from the Direct Marketing Association and a consequent rise in IPA revenues.

Nevertheless, there are sound reasons why an IPA-sponsored code is the best way to prove direct marketers are acting responsibly. There are equally good reasons why the DMA, as currently structured, isn't best placed to enforce one. As an alliance of agencies, clients and suppliers, the DMA has the near-impossible task of bringing consensus to ...