Dear Adobe, please unsubscribe me (by post)

I got an email from Adobe about Premiere Pro the other day. I was about to delete it, but as my cursor hovered over the bin icon, I scrolled to the footer out of habit. That’s when I saw a sentence that stopped me in my tracks.

“send an unsubscribe request to the postal address above”.

My palms weren’t sweaty, but the sheer analogue nature of this request was arresting. Unsubscribing from a digital mailing list by sending a physical letter to Dublin felt like a solution from a different era.

And let’s be honest, it’s Adobe. They’re the company that pioneered the shift to software subscriptions, a model that now has freelancers and agencies in a perpetual headlock. The idea of lodging a small, physical, and deeply inconvenient complaint with the digital giant was, frankly, too delicious to pass up.

Is This Necessary?

But first, I had to know: is this normal? A quick search revealed that providing a physical address is a legal requirement, but not from GDPR. It’s a ghost of email law past; a remnant of the 2003 American CAN-SPAM Act that has clung on for dear life in email marketing compliance templates.

So, this wasn't just an Adobe quirk. It was a 20-year-old piece of American legislation haunting a 2025 email from an Irish subsidiary. This discovery sealed the deal. I had to send the letter.

And since I’m spending my own money on an international stamp, I figured I should offer them some free advice.

Here are the three points I made.

First, the hero image is a chaotic collage of twenty different designs. It’s meant to scream ‘variety’, but it just creates a wall of visual noise where nothing stands out. Showing three distinct examples—say, one for a corporate video and one for a travel vlog—would have made the point with more confidence and clarity.

Second, their main hero image was a 500kb transparent PNG. For a company that owns Photoshop, this is a bit rough. A quick trip to TinyPNG.com got it down to 130kb with no visible quality loss. To me, TinyPNG’s compression algorithm is basically black magic, but I’m curious, what does everyone else use? Let me know in the comments.

Third, for a company that knows every piece of software I’ve ever subscribed to, the email was remarkably generic. There was no personalisation beyond my name. A simple nod to the fact I’m a Premiere Pro user ("new ways to use your favourite editor") would have made the entire message feel less like a broadcast and more like a conversation.

With my feedback drafted, it was time to write the letter itself.

The Letter

To:
The Analogue Unsubscribe Department
Adobe Systems Software Ireland Limited
4-6 Riverwalk, Citywest Business Park
Dublin 24, Ireland

Subject: A Postal Unsubscribe Request

Dear Adobe (and more specifically, the poor soul who has to open the physical mail),

Please unsubscribe me from the Adobe Premiere Pro marketing email list.

A few questions, if you don’t mind. First, are you okay? Do you get many of these letters? I have this image of you sitting in a single room, surrounded by dusty sacks of unsubscribe requests from around the globe. I hope that’s not the case.

Secondly, for future reference, is carrier pigeon an acceptable alternative for these requests? I feel it would better capture the spirit of this whole endeavour.

I’ve also included a few notes on your email design on the back of this letter. Just some friendly advice from one marketer to another.

If you ever need a hand with your email strategy, you know where to find me. You have my email address. For now.

All the best,

Ben Power

The letter is now sealed and stamped. What happens next is anyone’s guess. I will, of course, report back right here with any developments.