Hormel Gracefully Concedes On SPAM vs. Spam

dattaway writes: "Hormel has given up complaining about 'spam' referring to junk e-mail and makes a good point about our trademark system." Hormel has actually seemed pretty quiet, even good natured, on this front for a long time -- unlike certain companies, they haven't attempted to throttle everyone using those fateful four letters in sequence. (And that would have made them look bad, anyhow. Language evolves.) Now if only they would send infinite supplies of can-cooked spiced pink meat to the nasty kind of spammers ...

Comments

Even more history of spam (Usenet)

[darkonc]

The way that spam became a usenet term only starts with the Monty Python sketch. What happened (a long time!) after the sketch is that some unhappy bugger decided to get annoying on the net (I don't remember the specifics of his complaint). He sent dozens of messages crossposted to many newsgroups with the text consisting of the extended version of the spam song

(spam spam spam.... ) {hundreds of lines of it!)

Originally, spamming really only referred to massive, crossposted postings on the usenet. Various names like UCE (Unwanted Commercial Email) / UBE (Unsolicited Bulk Email) were the techinical term for the email 'spam', but Spam is far easier to say and remember (and more fun). People seem to have settled on spam (to Hormels mild consternation).
--

Slashdot may be in trouble

[UnifiedTechs]

From Policy Statement: We do not object to use of this slang term to describe UCE, although we do object to the use of our product image in association with that term. This would seem to say that Slashdot's use of a picture of a SPAM can to denote stories about UCE (Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail) is against their policy. And though I know I'll get modded down for saying it I can see their point.

So, now we can play nice, too

[KlausBreuer]

Funny, but this pops up on *every* spam topic:

Please refer to spam as 'spam', not 'SPAM'!
And either get rid of the icon, or photoshop it to show locercase 'spam'.

Darn, the company is being so reasonable, and we're still doing our best to irritate them with this.

I just don't get it.

---
"What, I need a *reason* for everything?" -- Calvin

Eat more SPAM^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H

[RennieScum]

Drangel mused that the new use of the company's top brand might actually benefit Hormel. The theory is that having more people talk and think about spam will cause more people to buy and eat SPAM.

So this a case of accidental marketing.

Works on me. I had never had any SPAM before, but sometime in 1996, something changed in me. I tried it, and thought it was OK. Time passed, and I kept buying the stuff, and started trying out the recipes on the sides of the cans. Those folks at Hormel (tm) come up with some pretty tasty recipes! Let's face in, SPAM-n-eggs is pretty nasty, but Chicken SPAM-on-Bleu is fabulous! So is SPAM-a-roni and cheese, and SPAM and mushroom pizzas.

But take it from me, don't make SPAM cupcakes!

Re:Eat more SPAM

[Tirs]

Well, I'm European and I had never heard about a meal called SPAM before. When I went to the U.S. I saw the cans on a supermarket shelf, and I thought: "Hey, this stuff has the same name as junk mail!" I tried it just out of curiosity... and they won a new customer. A side effect of this story was that now I understand what the "Spam" icon in /. is.