Doesn't "black hat" usually imply some kind of hackery or gaming of a system? Assuming it was people sending the emails and not automated, I would probably cla

Doesn't "black hat" usually imply some kind of hackery or gaming of a system? Assuming it was people sending the emails and not automated, I would probably classify this as deceptive cold calling. It's not something you'd want your own people doing, but you might just look the other way if some PR company is doing it on your behalf. Morally, it's probably the equivalent of making a fake viral video.