Internet advertising is being talked about as the advertising medium for 2005 and beyond. But the major stumbling block in the growth of Internet advertising is spam. This article examines spam, its categories, facilitators, uses, its effects and control measures.
During the past two years there has been a phenomenal increase in Internet advertising. According to `AdRelevance', an American online advertising measurement and tracking company study, 63% of organizations are using Internet advertising as a branding device. According to the study, 83% of organizations had Internet advertising budgets, and also 17% of them are spending 10% or more on Internet advertisements. Further, the Internet continues to grow at an explosive rate, not only in developed countries, but also in the so-called developing and underdeveloped ones. What all this means is Internet advertising is undoubtedly, the advertising of the future. Most advertising experts are bullish about Internet advertising during 2005 and beyond. However, it is not growing at the expected rate. There are many factors that are contributing to the retarded growth of Internet advertising. Undoubtedly the most important factor that is affecting Internet advertising is `Spam'.
This is a growing menace on the Internet and according to the latest studies, 60% of all the mails moving on the Internet is Spam. Experts feel that unless controlled, spam may eventually clog and choke the Internet and prevent its proper use. As far as the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are concerned, spam is their biggest enemy. According to a 2003 study by an independent research firm, `Ferries', 30% of all the inbound mail at ISPs is spam. Some other estimates, on the other extreme, put the figure at 70%. The Ferries study also indicated that Spam cost American organizations alone US$10 bn during 2003, and they are conservative. `Radicati' Group, another research firm, puts the cost of spam at US$20.5 bn based on lost productivity, and consumption of resources and predicts that this would reach US$198 bn by 2007. The extent of the problem can be estimated from Americaonline's (AOL) announcement on March 6, 2003 that they succeeded in blocking one billion junk messages. While it is an achievement for them, it is just the tip of an iceberg when you consider all the spam on the Internet. `Bright mail' uncovered 3.2 million different types of spam during 2002, and according to them this figure reached 6.4 million during 2003, a 100% increase. The Federal Trade Commission of US is getting 100,000 spam complaints every day.
Spam is the equivalent of junk mail in the cyber world. It involves sending unsolicited e-mails or messages in large quantity by unscrupulous people or organizations to persons with whom there is no prior relationship, or force messages on to others who otherwise would not like to receive them. The word `Spam' is supposed to have originated from a `Monty Python' play of the late 1960s in which an edible variety of Spam was repeatedly referenced, sung in a song causing great annoyance to the audience. The song in the play goes on like "Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam ." Spam is an endless repetition of useless text like in the song. Since then people used to refer to annoying communications as spam. When unsolicited e-mails had begun circulating on the Internet, people started referring to them as Spam, and the name got stuck.
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