Electronic Retailing Association: Tucker Out of Bounds on Obamamercial

Electronic Retailing Association: Tucker Out of Bounds on Obamamercial

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Last night, the Barack Obama campaign took an unprecedented step in the history of the infomercial, by running concurrently on several networks in the prime time half-hour beginning at 8 p.m. to make an appeal to voters in the form of an infomercial. The John McCain camp, led by spokesperson Tucker Bounds responded, "As anyone who has bought anything from an infomercial knows, the sales-job is always better than the product. Buyer beware."

Rick Petry, Acting President and CEO of the Electronic Retailing Association, a trade association that represents direct marketers that use electronic means including infomercials, had this response. "To use a political agenda to indict an entire genre of advertising by portraying it in such a negative light is patently unfair. It would be like charging an entire industry and everyone associated with it, say politics for example, as being scurrilous. We at ERA will be the first to tell you that there are some who use this method of advertising inappropriately, which is why we have an independent self-regulation program, ERSP ( http://www.narcpartners.org/ersp/index.aspx ), administered by the National Advertising Review Council in partnership with the Council of Better Business Bureau. With this watchdog mechanism in place, claims have to be proven; a standard that politicians are not required to live up to. The fact is infomercials have been used by not only start-ups with unique products, but successful brands such as Kodak and Mercedes Benz, even the U.S. Navy."

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC RETAILING ASSOCIATION

Representing a more than $400 billion market, the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) is the only trade association in the U.S. and internationally that represents the leaders of direct response, which includes members who maximize revenues through electronic retailing on television, online and on radio. ERA strives to protect the regulatory and legislative climate of direct response while ensuring a favorable landscape that enhances e-retailers' ability to bring quality products and services to the consumer. ERA members include some of the nation's most prominent retail merchants, including Bare Escentuals, Guthy-Renker Corporation, Discovery Communications, HSN, QVC, ShopNBC, Jewelry Television, eBay, Google, Salem Radio Network, and West Corporation. For more information about ERA, please visit www.retailing.org.

Source: Electronic Retailing Association

CONTACT: Rick Petry of Electronic Retailing Association, +1-703-841-
8287, rpetry@retailing.org

Web site: http://www.retailing.org/
http://www.narcpartners.org/ersp/index.aspx

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