NEWS26 May 2011
SOUTH AFRICA— The South African Marketing Research Association (SAMRA) is to meet government officials to discuss the country’s new Consumer Protection Act, which it says does not do enough to differentiate between research and marketing.
The act, which includes measures to protect consumers from unwanted marketing, came into effect last month. SAMRA is to meet the Department of Trade and Industry to call for its own code of conduct, which covers matters such as respondent consent, to be recognised as the industry standard, in a bid to differentiate market researchers more clearly from firms engaging in ‘sugging’ (selling under the guise of research).
SAMRA chair Elsa Thirion-Venter told Research that the accreditation of the association’s code as an industry standard would mean that, in the event of a complaint from a member of the public, legitimate market researchers who adhere to its guidelines would not be lumped in with companies that carry out sugging – which has long been a problem in the country.
Thirion-Venter said: “The confusion between marketing and marketing research has been causing a problem for researchers for a long time, and continues to do so.”
She added that SAMRA’s long-term aim is to administer an industry-wide do-not-call list so that people can opt out of receiving research calls from its members. This would make it easier to determine whether complaints related to legitimate research outfits or marketing firms operating under the guise of research. Currently, individual research agencies manage their own do-not-call lists.