An affront to the good name of 'bacon'
Bacon cannot speak for itself. So I will speak on its behalf. Who's with me? It has come to my attention that the term "bacon" is being sullied. It's now being used as a shorthand label for all the nonsense cluttering your email in-box, the stuff that falls somewhere between email from a Nigerian businessman and urgent notification that your credit limit has been ... exceeded. You know, all the coupons, recipes, newsletters, updates, tips, sales, tricks and alerts that you willingly signed up for at one point and now just delete, delete, delete when you see them stacking up:
"Bacon is all of your Facebook notifications or bank e-mails saying that a bill is due," says Tommy Vallier, a social media consultant and one of the people that coined the term at a Pittsburgh technology conference in 2007. "We came up with the word just as bacon really started to become a problem."
It's such a problem that now we have "How to manage e-mail in-box bacon" suggestions, and there's even a service ($20 a year) to help you unsubscribe to it all.
Don't get me wrong, such tips and services all sound swell. But do we have to sully the good name of bacon? Can't we come up with another name? Like, e-clutter? Or, I don't know, how about "unwanted e-mails?" Why call it bacon? Do you join me in my outrage?
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You aren't helping. I had never heard spam called bacon before reading this. You're fueling their atrocious hell fire.
Posted by: Justin | June 14, 2011 at 12:51 PM
The picture says it all! Bacon should be in it's own food group! It's such a neat treat to have with your meal. Normally I don't have it so it's ultra special when I do! <3
Posted by: Neesalun | June 13, 2011 at 11:07 PM
wow... so you guys do realize this term has been around for a number of years now right? this is nothing new.
its BACN not BACON, used as a simular moniker like SPAM to describe the type of SPAM you specifically opt-in to receive. If you choose to receive it, it is not SPAM.
Posted by: Liam | June 13, 2011 at 06:31 PM
Anytime food and business come together, my ears perk up. Yes, SPAM is a suspicious food product. But bacon? Everybody loves bacon. And we all know what it is and where it came from. I say we choose another suspicious food product like hot dogs instead. Or maybe we could just call them weiners? (works for suspicious tweets as well!) The differentiation here is that weiners are items you (allegedly) gave your permission to receive. Whereas SPAM is totally unsolicited, sometimes malicious, and definitely not healthy in any shape or form. Weiners on the other hand, might have an actual chance at being good for you...say if they're soy-based, or Kosher. ;-)
Posted by: Tea Silvestre | June 13, 2011 at 03:31 PM
I agree that this term won't stick. Every time I hear it I'm going to be thinking "mmm, bacon."
Bacon is something I bring home, not expunge from my inbox. What's wrong with "junk mail"?
Posted by: Tom | June 13, 2011 at 03:13 PM
The name must come as a counterpart TO the word Spam... you know a suspicious meat product. I'm sure there are plenty of people (I'm looking at you people of Okinawa) who love Spam and thinking using it synonymously with "junk" doesn't suit in their mind like our bacon outrage.
The real question here should not be Why Bacon? but rather Why Food? Food is not trash and associating it with junk is pretty ridiculous-- especially now with such a beloved form of meat & fat.
So I say we remove negatively-connoted food names from cyber trash.
Posted by: Mary aka The Culinary Librarian | June 13, 2011 at 02:24 PM
"Spam" stuck because the product had so long been the subject of mockery. "Bacon"? That's just malicious.
Posted by: KateNonymous | June 13, 2011 at 02:13 PM
Yeah, that's the first time I've ever heard that. Don't most email sites call it "spam?" I found that rather appropriate, as spam has to be one of the grossest substances man has ever made. Honestly. It's not even food. It's just nasty. Bacon is delightful, delicious, and everyone loves it! Except Jewish people, and vegetarians. But still. Bacon is awesome!
Posted by: chrissy | June 13, 2011 at 02:00 PM
Here here! Save Bacon's good name! I don't think these guys are going to make it stick. I haven't heard the term anywhere. This sounds like an attempt at viral marketing.
Much like what Regina George said about "fetch", "bacon" as a form of spam is just never going to happen.
Posted by: oakley | June 13, 2011 at 01:29 PM