Marketing Misfires Trigger More ‘Text Spam’ Lawsuits

Text messages are an irresistible marketing opportunity for brands to connect with their customers. But some text campaigns are tripping over a federal law, leaving companies with a nasty legal bill instead of new sales.

In a federal class action suit filed last week in Oakland, a California man accused a PR firm of sending an unsolicited quit smoking message to his cell phone. He said the firm, PHD, broke the Telemarketing and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and should be penalized at least $5 million. The Oakland case appears to be one of at least a dozen such lawsuits filed in recent years against companies. According to experts, there are two types of “text spamming.” The first is conducted by rogue companies who purchase lists of cell phone numbers from third parties and then blast them to consumers via SMS websites. The second type of spamming arises when respectable companies blunder in their marketing campaigns by failing to respect the terms of the TCPA.