The environmental impact of ceaseless advertising of consumer products is the creation of a materialistic culture in which possession of consumer goods replaces human social interactions and spiritual development. There is no end to this materialistic spiral. People who define themselves by what they own will always desire that one new product, or replacements for all their old products, placing a continual demand on the environment. Junk Mail as a Privacy Issue Privacy is a major concern, even to the average person. By July 1992, almost 2.5 million people had requested the DMA's Mail Preference Service, which removes a persons name from many national direct mail lists.
People pay extra for unlisted phone numbers.
Objections to telephone solicitations led to passage of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. Among its restrictions, the act prohibits solicitors from calling someone who asked not to be called again, and requires solicitors to maintain a list of those requesting not to be called. However, privacy concerns reach beyond the nuisance of unsolicited mail or phone calls. The elderly fall prey to and are especially targeted by deceptive mail practices, prompting the passage of the Deceptive Mailings Prevention Act of 1990. Theoretically the two dozen USPS licensees use the names and addresses which they receive from the USPS only for correcting their own lists.