People need to realize that somebody has to pay for the dinners they are so concerned about having interrupted. That somebody is business — whether it be their own or their employers’. The most amazing thing about the current assault on freedom of commercial speech is that it is happening under a Republican administration. What will the Democrats do to top them — reimpose usury laws?
While both parties seek to position themselves as pro-jobs, they are, perhaps unwittingly, closing off one avenue after another of the most powerful job-creation tool known to man: marketing communications.
The Chicago Tribune recently ran a compelling article about the loss of jobs among the handicapped resulting from the do-not-call list. Perhaps the wheelchair-bound, soon-to-be unemployed telemarketer pictured in a photo accompanying this piece can become the poster boy to open the eyes of those in Congress who know not what they do.
Nobody loves a sales pitch, but nothing happens until the sale is made. It’s not just the marketers who will join the federal dole, but those who make and distribute the products and services they sell, accounting for trillions of dollars. Instead of taxpayers, these displaced workers will become tax takers.
As the ranks of the unemployed grow into legions, let’s hope they will remember who decided that their jobs were “too irritating” and banished them to the welfare rolls and homeless shelters.
Terry Nugent, Director of marketing, Medical Marketing Service Inc., Wood Dale, IL
