Can you solve this direct mail mystery? I’m not one to usually post about direct mail, but I received something so strange over the weekend that it’s time to dive way below the line and see if anyone can solve this little DM mystery. It came by way of a small manila envelope. For my address, it uses a typeface I’m sure most of you have seen before—one that looks, at first glance, handwritten. The envelope bore no return address and had a hard-to-make-out postmark—all I can tell definitively is that it’s from Illinois. Inside the envelope is a small note, handwritten but Xeroxed, saying, “Over the next year you must try to copy and give this information to 100 people. If you won’t do something then who will?” And now, drum roll please, the envelope’s main contents: a 19-page diatribe about how 9/11 was orchestrated by the U.S. government. As with everything else in the package, it’s sophisticated in that it appears to come from someone I know—all 19 pages are handwritten, if Xeroxed. (In fact, the two stamps it took to mail it don’t even match, and are haphazardly affixed to the envelope.) I won’t bore you with the details of the document itself except to mention that in addition to containing long passages about the alleged misdeeds of the usual subjects (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Dubya), it  manages to weave in the Zapruder film and the plane crash in which Payne Stewart died. Interestingly, the document refers to 9/11 as S11 throughout, but Googling different phrases that contain the term “S11” doesn’t exactly solve the mystery of who is behind this; there are simply way too many 9/11 conspiracy sites out there. Has anyone else received this? And does anyone know who, besides maybe Charlie Sheen, is behind this? At any rate, while people are entitled to their opinions, it's appalling that someone would do such a mass mailing and not have the courage to say who they are. —Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

July 10, 2006 | Permalink

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Comments

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So what I hear you saying is that the mentally ill (and make no mistake, that's who sent this - disorganized, rambling conspiracy screed) need stronger brand imaging on their direct mail campaigns?

Posted by: Jay Levitt | Jul 10, 2006 10:32:55 AM

Perhaps its Dylan Avery (director of Loose Change)?

Posted by: Ben Kessler | Jul 10, 2006 10:51:02 AM

2 comments:

1. Direct marketers might view the piece as highly successful, since you not only read it, but shared it with countless Adfreak visitors. Thanks to you, the sender will enjoy record-breaking response rates — and the piece will probably win a Caples Award.

2. Better check it for anthrax.

Posted by: HighJive | Jul 10, 2006 1:22:38 PM

Maybe it wasn't a mass mailing...maybe only you got it?

Posted by: MarkTruss | Jul 10, 2006 2:16:43 PM

MarkTruss,

you're probably right about that. maybe bin laden is handwriting messages from his cave, xeroxing and mailing the letters to exclusive recipients. though it must be hell for him to find a kinko's out in the desert.

Posted by: HighJive | Jul 10, 2006 3:19:25 PM

I'd be curious. I'm sure it's part one of some big agency's attempt to use DM and other "below the line" media to hip up their clients.

Posted by: Alex Cross | Jul 10, 2006 4:59:19 PM

Maybe Michael Moore is making a new movie. Let’s hope not.

Posted by: Jonah Hughes | Jul 10, 2006 10:33:08 PM

Dude, sorry. That’s mine. I meant to send it to adrants.

;-p

Posted by: makethelogobigger | Jul 11, 2006 12:01:57 PM

I'll have to remember this for my next campaign.

Posted by: Lesley | Jul 11, 2006 4:51:58 PM

according to wikipedia, "S11 was the activist code-name for a protest against meetings of the World Economic Forum on 11 September 2000 in Melbourne, Australia. One of the groups involved in the protests called itself the S11 Alliance [1] and the success of the protest led to the creation of the M1 Alliance on 1 November 2000 in preparation for the next year's May Day events [2] and the S26 Alliance [3], in solidarity with protest against the International Monetary Fund/World Bank meetings in Prague (Sept. 26, 2000). The protest was part of the anti-globalisation movement, and closely modeled after the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle. This movement has been motivated by a number of concerns about globalization, including loss of national sovereignty, environmental impact, and the impact of foreign debt and multi-national corporations on third world countries." --

Posted by: ziggy | Jul 13, 2006 12:13:28 AM

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