Spam-alot

Some dolt in the marketing department of AT&T came up with a brilliant idea during a recent brainstorming session:  "Let's spam-text 70 million of of our most loyal users with an invitation to tune into the season premiere of American Idol."

AT&T is the official cell phone sponsor of Idol and only its users can participate in the voting.  

Unfortunately, because of the "no idea is a bad idea" mantra of corporate brainstorming sessions, nobody stopped to consider the implications of spamming current customers.  

The Twitter-led uproar over AT&T's incredible indiscretion has been overwhelming.  AT&T users are pissed that the company would violate their privacy with a blatant and schlocky marketing come-on.  And they are right to feel this way.  A spokesperson for AT&T said that they were simply sending a "friendly reminder" to tune into to Idol.  Well pal, thanks, but that isn't AT&T's job!  Considering that only a fraction of your users participate in the Idol text voting, that means most of your loyal users don't give a crap about the show.  

Earlier last year, I submitted a request to Verizon for ring-tone options.  Instead of simply sending me the requested information, I have been added to a spam list that results in numerous un-wanted text messages each week.  And I can't figure out how to remove my number from the list.  You can bet that this endears me to Verizon!

When will companies realize that arrogance is not a great "go to market" strategy in today's instant communication world?