Study letterbox advertising 2022
3 out of 4 inhabitants of Maastricht think it is a good idea to change to an opt-in system for receiving unaddressed advertising materials, instead of the current opt-out system (NEE|NEE stickers). This is shown by a study of letterbox advertising in the municipality of Maastricht.
Background
A number of municipalities in the Netherlands has reversed the existing system of stickers to limit unaddressed advertising materials (NEE|JA or NEE|NEE stickers). This new opt-in system means that inhabitants must now explicitely ask to receive unaddressed advertising materials. This system is seen as a way to limit the amount of paper waste.
The municipality of Maastricht also thinks about the possibilities for limiting the amount of unaddressed advertising materials. Team Wonen en Leefkwaliteit (team living and quality of life) wants to know the opinion of the inhabitants of Maastricht about receiving no more unaddressed advertising materials, except when they explicitely state that they do want to receive these. These questions were asked to the inhabitants' panel of Maastricht.
Research questions
The goal of this study is to provide insight into the opinion of inhabitants of Maastricht about the opt-in system. This goal led to the following research questions:
- How many inhabitants have a letterbox sticker?
- To what extent do people read unaddressed advertising materials?
- How are unaddressed advertising materials kept or thrown away?
- How do inhabitants feel about not receiving unaddressed advertising materials unless they explicitely state they do want to receive these?
- What do inhabitants think about other ways to reduce the amount of paper waste?
Results
Between January 28th and Februari 7th, 1,946 inhabitants of Maastricht have participated in this study by filling out an online questionnaire. The research results will be used as input for changes in policies regarding limiting unaddressed advertising materials.
The study results are available as a report in pdf-format (the report is written in Dutch).
Factsheet
The study results are also available as factsheet (the factsheet is in Dutch). The factsheet summaries the most important findings of this study on 1 page. The factsheet is available in pdf-format.
