Spam has several meanings.
The producer of the canned pork product Spam has lost a bid to stop companies using the word ‘Spam’ as a nickname for unwanted email.
The name ‘Spam’ originally meant ‘Spiced Ham’ back in 1937 when Hormel Foods Corp. started the product.
In the 70’s Spam became part of pop culture with the help of the Monty Python comedy team and their famous ‘Spam’ routine, complete with Vikings singing ‘Spam, Spam, Spam’ throughout.
Hormel, makers of Spam (the food) have embraced the Monty Python connection in recent times. If you see the musical ‘Spamalot’ (in New York or London) among the extras on sale are specially labeled cans of Spam.
When unwanted email started arriving it was nicknamed ‘Spam’ by the then small Internet community, mostly also Monty Python fans.
Hormel’s problem is when email related companies use their trademark which is why they ended up in front of the European Union trademark tribunal.
Sadly the officials decided that ‘spam’ is now used more to mean unwanted email and not the food product.
We loved the quote from a company official who said
“Ultimately, we are trying to avoid the day when the consuming public asks, ‘Why would Hormel Foods name its product after junk e-mail?”
