No company ever deliberately sets out to cause distress however it is inevitable that, by mailing and telephoning thousands of individuals, some people will feel upset at receiving poorly targeted communications.

Responsible companies do their utmost to ensure that information on their products and services are only sent to people who want to receive them. Regrettably there are many times when the opposite may appear to be true - none more so than when a telephone call or mailing is sent to somebody that has recently passed away.

The direct marketing industry is doing everything it can to prevent causing unnecessary upset however, without your help, it is a very difficult task. In order to stop sending unwanted direct mail, companies need to know when somebody has died. Currently there is no automatic process that allows them to identify when an individual has passed away - this is where you can help.

By registering the details of your family member or friend onto The Bereavement Register, any company involved in direct marketing will be able to check their own information against the details contained within The Bereavement Register. This will identify the individual as deceased and will allow the company not to mail them.

At the beginning of 2005, more than 75% of companies involved in this form of marketing subscribed to The Bereavement Register. In total, more than 50 million pieces of direct mail have been stopped which otherwise would have been sent to the deceased.