Pac Bell Rubs Massage Firm the Wrong Way
Mikki Anderson calls herself “this little pea” in Pacific Bell Directory’s mattress.
Anderson will take the Yellow Pages publishing giant to Orange County Small Claims Court on Friday, alleging the directory has damaged her Laguna Hills therapeutic massage firm by refusing to print its Web address.
Earlier this year, Pacific Bell Directory identified six business categories for which it would no longer print e-mail or Web site addresses, massage among them. The company’s reasoning: The sites could provide links to pornographic material, executives said.
“We’re not going to let our product serve as a gateway to that sort of thing,” said Sandy Kivowitz, a Pacific Bell Directory spokesman. “It’s a corporate philosophy.”
But Anderson argues the publisher has not imposed its rules consistently. The policy does not cover the “novelties” heading, for example, under which Condom Revolution of Huntington Beach runs an ad listing its Web site.
Anderson also complains that Pacific Bell Directory lumps her company, which specializes in treating infants and pregnant women, in with more recreational counterparts like Naughty & Fun and Sweet Dreams that promise hot oil rubs and “discreet billing.”
“If indeed they were going to clean up the phone book, I could accept it,” said Anderson, who owns StressBusters Massage Co. with her husband.
Anderson’s claim asks for $5,000 to offset the $200 a month she pays for a second ad under the “maternity apparel” heading that includes her Web address and the cost of a computer bought to handle Web site traffic.
Kivowitz suggested that rather than suing, Anderson could simply have taken her business to a competing directory.
“If you’re going to do business with us, you have to abide by our policies,” he said.
But stomping away from Pacific Bell Directory can be costly. The company is the state’s largest Yellow Pages publisher, controlling 66% of the market and dominating California’s $2-billion-a-year directory business. Besides, many competing publishers are crafting similar policies.(Robin Fields)
