As an editor, this isn't my normal concern, but I do admit that it bugs me, and I don't know where else to turn to ask this question.

Our main competitor has a lot of ethical issues (both with their sales and their editorial staffs), while we play it fair. One argument our sales staff sometimes hears is that the other publication generates many more inquiries than we do. This seems odd, our content is light years ahead of theirs (sometimes, they don't even edit releases and stories that all of us in the industry receive), and our circulation is triple theirs.

We have come to find out (and verified this recently) that they send every inquiry to every advertiser in a given issue. So, if a person sends in the response card saying they're interested in pear trees, they send that inquiry to someone who manufacturers pesticides, too.

I find this practice totally unethical and just plain wrong. Is there anything our magazine should do about this? In general, our sales staff tries to not even dignify them by making comparisons. Any suggestions?