Over 30,000 copies of The One Show’s pro forma letter that people can use to tell charities to stop contacting them for donations has been downloaded since it was made available on the BBC’s website last week.

A spokeswoman for The One Show said that the letter – which asks the recipient charity to stop contacting the sender for marketing purposes – has been downloaded 30,912 times since it appeared on Monday.

The letter was made available after a segment with journalist Lucy Siegle went to air on Monday, which accused some charities of adopting “pesky” and even “aggressive tactics” to fundraise.

The wording of the letter gives the recipient charity 28 days to comply or else says that an official complaint will be lodged with the Information Commissioner’s Office.  

The One Show spokeswoman said that the majority of viewers who had downloaded the letter tended to be older people who “view direct mail fundraising as personal mail, rather than marketing”. She also told Civil Society News that a number of viewers have been saying that “they already give to charity but some receive upwards of 30 requests a week [from charities] for money. This is money that they don’t have to give”.

Journalist Angela Rippon and Daphne Clark drew up the letter for The One Show, in consultation with the Fundraising Standards Board, as well as with Citizens Advice, the Direct Marketing Association and other consumer watchdogs.

“Everyone being asked to give is already giving,” said the spokeswoman. “Many are just irritated at the fact that if they’re already giving to one charity, their details seem to be made available to every other charity”.

Alongside the downloadable letter, The One Show has also been mailing the same letter to viewers who have written in to request a copy.

The spokeswoman said that The One Show “tried to distance itself from the Olive Cooke case, as there were obviously more factors at play in her death than fundraising”. But she did say that more and more viewers had begun complaining about fundraising after Alistair McLean, chief executive of the FRSB, appeared on the show in May.

On the show, McLean said: “It’s completely inappropriate for people to feel pressured to give. We want to make sure the public have confidence in the charities they have supported."