February 21, 2003

• The masses have spoken, and with out further residue, here’s the Friday Xanga you-pick-it rant! However, it should be noted that this is more of a history lesson than a rant, but hey, that’s how these things work out sometimes. I know I learned a lot, so enjoy the history lesson.

  
  

   

  
  

  SPAM: Fish, fowl or all three?

  
  

   

  
  

  Useful links:

  
  

  www.spam.com

  
  

   

  
  

  http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html

  
  

   

  
  

  For years we have all made fun of this product. Back as a child I remember Monty Python and the SPAM song, and how funny just the mention of the word was, and how it always brought a smile. As I got older, there was much concern and speculation on what this product actually was. Some felt it was the miscellaneous parts of bovine, poultry and swine, while some thought it was a man-made meat by product enhanced with flavorings.

  
  

   

  
  

  People rejoice! For I have uncovered the secret of this mystery meat. Put your former prejudice aside and let’s talk about SPAM, where it came from and some of its uses.

  
  

   

  
  

   SPAM was born out of a need for a convenient way to transport and store meat for family on the go, looking for an inexpensive way to get protein and good taste. In 1937, those innovative folks at the Hormel Company came up with a spicy ham product in a can to meet the needs of the nuclear family, before they became nuclear. But who would buy a product called “Spicy Ham?” That’s what I thought, so they held a national contest to name the new product. Some genius decided to use the SP from “spicy” and the AM from ham … and voila! SPAM had a name.

  
  

   

  
  

  In 1940,  SPAM made advertising history by having the first singing commercial on the George Burns Gracie Allen radio show. MMMMmmmm … tasty AND innovative.  It should also be noted that in 1945 SPAM helped feed the Russian army, and Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher declared that SPAM was a wartime delicacy.

  
  

   

  
  

  SPAM goes global in the 50’s with agreements from Hormel to manufacture SPAM in the UK, Ireland, Canada and Venezuela. As you can see, the well thought out plan for world domination was well underway. To earmark this event, it should also be noted that in 1959, the one-billionth can of SPAM was sold. You should also be aware that at this time, Hawaii joined the union … and Hawaiians eat more SPAM per person than anyone else in the world. In fact, if you go to the Islands, you’ll find SPAM on the menu of just about EVERY restaurant! I can attest to this personally. Coincidence? I think not.

  
  

   

  
  

  Jump to 1980 when the 3 billionth can of SPAM was sold and by 1984 when Apple introduced the Macintosh, SPAN discovered a new marketing opportunity, the mouse pad! A mere two years after that, they sold 4 billion cans. And a single year after that, SPAM turned 50. As the 90’s drew to a close, SPAM merged onto the Information Super highway with the introduction of www.spam.com.

  
  

   

  
  

  It should be noted that junk email is called Spam. Here’s some text from this site that went to great lengths to find out the true origin: “Most people have some vague awareness that it came from at first from the SPAM skit by Monty Python's Flying Circus. In the sketch, a restaurant serves all its food with lots of spam, and the waitress repeats the word several times in describing how much spam is in the items. When she does this, a group of Vikings (don't ask) in the corner start a song:

  
  

  "Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam! Wonderful spam!"

  
  

  Until told to shut up.

  
  

  Thus the meaning of the term at least: something that keeps repeating and repeating to great annoyance. How did the two get connected?

  
  

  The term got really popular in April of 1994, when two lawyers from Phoenix named Canter and Siegel posted a message advertising their fairly useless services in an upcoming U.S. "green card" lottery. They had posted their message a few times before, but on April 12, they hired an mercenary programmer to write a simple script to post their ad to every single newsgroup (message board) on USENET, the world's largest online conferencing system. There were several thousand such newsgroups, and each one got the ad.

  
  

  Quickly people called it a "spam" and the word caught on. Future multiple postings soon got the appellation. Some people also applied it to individual unwanted ads that weren't posted again and again, though generally it was associated with the massive flood of the same message.”

  
  

  There you have it, that’s the info on SPAM I could find …. I can’t really rag on the product, because I have had it and enjoyed it (btw, fried SPAM is really good) and I endorse it. So let’s consider this one your SPAM history lesson. So don’t ask me about it again.

  
  

  Have a great weekend.

  DG  

  • 12:44 pm
  • 7 Comments