Lovely, Wonderful SPAM

In late 1936, Jay C. Hormel was ready to launch his newly developed product to the American public; however, there was just one problem—it didn’t have a name. He decided to stage a New Year’s party for the purpose of naming “his baby.” Kenneth Daigneau is credited for the winning name of the new luncheon meat that was easy to pronounce and described the contents of the can with its combination of Shoulder of Pork and hAM—or what we simply call SPAM.

The meat in a can reached iconic status during World War II when it was one the most widely used military foodstuffs among U.S. troops, allied troops, and civilians who ate it as a source of protein at a time when fresh meat was rationed or unavailable. To some it was called “the miracle meat,” and on the islands, it became a staple product that enjoys brisk sales.

Why then would a food product that continues to sell in the billions and even has its own web site (spam.com) and fan club have its name blasphemed in reference to what is known as electronic junk mail, or unsolicited bulk email (UBE)?

Well, many of those American service personnel who had been forced on a ration of SPAM for breakfast, lunch, and dinner were less than complimentary, and some vowed to never eat it again when they returned home. However, the term for UBE was not coined until 1994, and even though there is some debate about the source, the generally accepted version is that it came from a 1970s skit on the British television series of the popular Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

In the skit, Mr. And Mrs. Bun are in a café where, for some unknown reason, all the other patrons are Viking warriors. The Buns are told that every item on the menu is served with SPAM. When Mrs. Bun announces that she doesn’t like SPAM, the Vikings start singing, “SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, lovely SPAM, wonderful SPAM…”

It is believed that a group of computer geeks at the University of Southern California dubbed the junk email from the skit where Mrs. Bun considered it unsavory food because the geeks believed it had many of the same characteristics as the lunchmeat: Nobody wants it or ever asks for it; sometimes it is actually tasty, like 1 percent of junk mail that is really useful to some people; and like the endless song, SPAM email is an endless repetition of worthless text.

Whatever your feelings are toward the popular chopped pork and ham, the word SPAM has continued to stick as a reference towards unwanted email. UBE has reached such endemic proportions that there have been rules enforced and laws have been enacted to curb its growth. Millions of dollars in fines have been levied against the practice of wasting people’s time with unwanted email that eats up a lot of network bandwidth. Many organizations, as well as individuals, have taken it upon themselves to fight SPAM with a variety of techniques. But because the Internet is public, there is little that can be done to prevent SPAM, just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail.

At the NMC, there was a “discussion” between a couple of employees as to whether the frequent unsolicited bulk emails of one employee was considered SPAMMING the network. The Spamhaus Project, an anti-SPAM protection organization that works with Law Enforcement to identify and pursue SPAMMERS worldwide, states, “a message is SPAM if it is both Unsolicited and Bulk.” According to Spamhaus.com, if “the UBE message is an advert, a scam, porn, a begging letter or an offer of a free lunch, the content is irrelevant—if the message was sent unsolicited and in bulk, then the message is spam.”

In reality, both of the NMC employees were correct in their interpretation—depending on how they viewed the message from the sender. SPAM is about consent, not content. Individuals who do not consent to the mass emails, and believe it is mostly about trivial matters that usually do not apply to them would consider the messages as SPAM. Those who welcome the messages would not consider it SPAM.

When using email, ask yourself: Is this email valuable to the individuals who will receive it? Will the recipients feel that I am abusing my privilege by sending numerous messages that have marginal value to them? Would I want all of my friends or everyone on the network to send as many bulk email messages with the same frequency that I do?

So, the next time you get SPAMMED, here is some food for thought. SPAM the food is about content—you can either leave it or eat it. SPAM the email is about consent—you can either read it or delete it.

(Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They have consulted with over 400 businesses in 40 different industries. For better business results go to BizResults.biz to read previous articles.)