I don't think this author is being fair to direct response advertising. One of the most important pillars of direct response marketing is to target effectivel

I don't think this author is being fair to direct response advertising. One of the most important pillars of direct response marketing is to target effectively. That means spending a lot of time getting to know your target audience, their habits, the media they actually pay attention to. Direct response marketing done right should make advertising go from "unwelcome pest, to welcome guest" - mainly because you're targeting your audience so well. Many people may think they're doing direct response marketing, but that doesn't mean they're actually doing it.