Selling Spam

After World War II, Hormel hired former servicewomen to sell Spam and other products. That group grew into a traveling sales force of sixty musically talented women who starred in a radio show as the Hormel Girls. In 1953 Hormel returned to the more conventional and economical sales approach of magazine advertisements featuring Spam recipes. The most popular recipe—for Spam glazed with brown sugar and studded with cloves in the manner of baked ham—was featured on the can for fifty years. In 1997, that image was replaced by a Spamburger—a quarter-pound slice of Spam grilled and served on a hamburger bun. This serving suggestion was designed to position Spam as an alternative to fast food hamburgers. The Hormel Spamburger television advertising campaign in 1992 sent Spam sales soaring.