Spam thrives in the face of our slowing economy…again.

(Note: I wrote this for a Pushback.org blog but it doesn't look like its getting past the editor's desk. Nevertheless, I thought it was funny, gross and interesting.)

An article by ADAge.com has pointed out the recent double digit growth in Spam sales over the past few quarters. In a time when almost every aspect of the economy is doing poorly, the Spam sector seems impervious to all the tumult.

Matthew Creamer reports:

It's a trend explained by the concept of "inferior goods," an economics term that less describes the makeup of a product than its place in consumer-demand theory. They're basically goods or services for which demand increases as income decreases and vice versa. They're staples that are somewhat dispensable in good times but more desirable in bad ones.

[…]

In the current economic climate, the media have given a fair amount of attention to this concept, as part of a tsunami of coverage of how the American consumer is cutting back to deal with rising food and gas prices and the looming threat of an economic apocalypse. Following parent company Hormel's second-quarter-earnings release, which announced a 14% increase in profit, the Associated Press attributed Spam's success to downtrodden simple folk and even quoted a few wretches who seem to have turned to the pork product as a last ditch before gobbling up their own hair clippings.

This isn’t the first time Spam has done well in an economic slowdown. The strange and questionably meaty substance was created in 1937 and was distributed throughout the south pacific to U.S. military personal during World War 2.

My question is: why is Spam even still available? Do you know anyone who actually eats Spam? Somebody must like it and now its sales are increasing? Strange…and…well… gross.
I’ll stick to discount shopping and cutting out coupons before the money crunch causes me to crack a can of SPAM for lunchtime in the office.