The ICO received 15 complaints from Papa John’s customers about the unwanted marketing they were receiving by text and email. The complaints noted the distress and annoyance the messages were causing.

“I never gave my consent for marketing text messages, it causes me distress receiving these so frequently without being able to stop them”

“Nearly a 100 messages in the past two months is the textbook definition of harassment.”

The ICO’s subsequent investigation found that between 1 October 2019 and 30 April 2020, Papa John’s sent over 210,000 marketing messages with 168,022 confirmed as received.

The ICO investigation found that Papa John’s was relying on the ‘soft opt in’ exemption in order to send marketing texts and emails.

This exemption allows organisations to send electronic marketing messages to customers whose details have been obtained for similar services, but offers a simple way for people to refuse or opt out. The ICO ruled that Papa John’s could not rely on this exemption for customers that had placed an order over the telephone, as they were not given the option to opt out at point of contact nor were they provided with a privacy notice.

The law is clear and simple. When relying on the ‘soft opt in’ exemption companies must give customers a clear chance to opt-out of their marketing when they collect the customers details. Papa John’s telephone customers were not given the opportunity to refuse marketing at the point of contact, which has led to this fine.

The Authority will continue to take action against companies who may be gaining unfair advantage over those companies that adhere to the law and comply with electronic marketing law.

The laws governing electronic marketing are contained in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.