Consumers Asked To Avoid Online Shopping

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) has launched a campaign asking consumers to shop locally at brick-and-mortar stores instead of shopping online. Their reason: online retailers don’t collect sales taxes and don’t support local jobs and community organizations.

The ad campaign will run through December 22 on major networks like NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox News, and The Weather Channel, and is titled “Give Your Community a Lift…Shop Locally for Your Gifts!” Added to the anti-smoking and anti-piracy ads pervasive on TV and DVDs, you could call it the latest in “shame-vertising.”

“Many consumers shop online and avoid paying sales tax, and while this may appear to consumers as a way of saving a few dollars, in the end it may cost them more if local tax revenue is eroded and municipalities are forced to cut back on services,”