One can only imagine the criticism Rogers will receive as it launches a new direct marketing service called “Rogers Alerts”.  National retailers have signed on with Rogers to pay to know when people are near their store, and send text messages with promotions encouraging them to shop there. This mobile marketing is the first of its kind in North America, so at least Rogers has given customers the choice of opting-in to receive the messages. Surprisingly enough, several thousand customers have already agreed to receive the texts, but do the rest of Rogers customer base like the idea? Has marketing become more intrusive than ever? Consumers are constantly being bombarded with advertisements, and only accept what is true to prior knowledge. Do companies really expect these texts, which aren’t customized and are sent based off location, not to be filtered out of the consumers mind? Emails and mailboxes are constantly sent junk because they are easily accessed, where as cell phones are one of the only communication tools that have been left private. There is a good chance that consumers are not ready to give that up. How long before opting-in is replaced by having to opt-out for Rogers customers?

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/rogers-to-offer-promotional-ads-by-text/article14646004/#dashboard/follows/

Source: http://cdn.iphoneincanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/rogers-hutz.png