"Marketing Sociopathy"

Eric Weaver uses the term "marketing sociopathy" to describe this stunt from Miller Brewing. I can't think of a more apt term.

I've railed in the past about marketing practices that treat consumers like prey. Instead of understanding their needs - and their dislikes - some marketers want to just keep poking and prodding them to get short-term results at the expense of long term business. So when I read about Miller hunting down a customer who gave them a fake email address by tracking IP addresses - and then writing to them with a "ha! we found you!" note - I am tempted to just roll my eyes.

Except, of course, fools like the Miller Brewing marketing team wreck the environment for all marketers. So is it any surprise to find that five states are pondering "do-not-email" registries?

I think that these kind of registries are a bad approach to controlling spam and email phishing. But I can't blame lawmakers for responding to consumer frustration with these kinds of ideas. Especially not with supposedly-reputable companies like Miller adding to the problem.