Editorial by Fred Taub,
President,
Boycott Watch
The new rash of greeting card
spam is more than just an annoyance, and the victims of this spam advent are
not limited to people being annoyed or getting viruses. Companies such as
American Greetings have invested millions of dollars into legitimate electronic
greeting card systems, and spammers are rendering these systems useless because
consumers will think twice before sending real greeting cards, and especially
before spending money to subscribe to such services.
As someone who has subscribed to the services of and received online cards from
American Greetings, I can tell you that I will no longer use that service
because I don't want anyone to accidentally confuse real and fake greeting
cards - I do not want anyone to get computer viruses. At the same time I also
believe that executives at companies such as American Greetings will not take
these email scams lying down. I have known some of the executives at American
Greetings for many years and although I have never spoken to them about this or
any other business issue at American Greetings, I have to believe the they,
like any other good corporate executives, will do everything they can to shut
down this threat to their business.
The greeting
card spam is the first time a spam campaign has targeted a specific and
legitimate business by a means with measurable harm. Yes, there are spammers
that offer prescription medication, but that is illegal, and such spam emails
do not give any clue as to if any real sales through pharmacies are impacted.
In this case, people will refrain from using paid services, thus there are real
damages, and as a result, spammers may be sued and potentially be put out of
business.
This is not stock advice, but in my eyes,
there will be a short term negative hit on the profits of companies such as
American Greetings this their stock prices as well, but in the long run this
case will result in landmark changes in the spam industry and companies such as
American Greetings will be stronger than ever. |
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