The manager of Digital Equipment Corporation had a revelation. Why spend a lot of money on advertising if you can spend just a little? And he sent out information about newly developed products to then-few e-mail users. They played the role of obstetricians witnessing the birth of spam: ads about minicomputers were the first unsolicited mailing in history. But where did the term “spam” come from? It is an abbreviation from the words SPiced hAM. This was a brand of canned food produced in the 1930s by the American company Hormel. The market got saturated quickly.

As the company tried to get rid of its inventories, it launched an advertising campaign so aggressive that it was remembered for a long time. Now the rotten meat comes from every computer mailslot. If you know the way to fight back, let others know.