1 post tagged “spam”
I realize that commending this particular anonymous writer will require me to admit that I purchased a can of SPAM. Still, I can't let this one go unrecognized.
To most, SPAM is a nerdy, even revolting product. "SPAM Lite" seems like an oxymoron.
But the stuff is so darned good in a sandwich. Hey, my grandmother ate lard sandwiches as a farm girl; SPAM Lite is a step up from that.
Anyway, the wonderful writing is the copy on the back of the SPAM label.
This label has so much going for it!:
- The marvelously simple recipe format: [Ingredient]: [additional descriptor, if needed], [preparation method]
- The simplicity of the recipe itself. There's no whisking egg yolks and butter; no roux, no croquilles, no venti or any other baloney Americans can't pronounce--just good old-fashioned American cooking methods. Toasted. Melted. Scrambled. Sliced. Fried.
- The clever "difficulty scale" that ranges from "watching TV" (easy) to "building a TV" (difficult). Ordinarily, the food/TV connection (think 1950s TV dinners) is ridiculed by today's ultra-hipsters who pretend they don't even watch TV. This funny design element lets us eat in front of the TV without shame. It's not slothful; it's a lifestyle choice.
- The hyper-iconic overall style: the recipe number with the words "one" through "five" circling around; the "MAKES" icon with the four sandwiches depicted (why waste time mentally translating a numeral into a concept when you can just see four sandwiches?); and, of course, the "5 minutes" with a 30-degree wedge shape representing a 5-minute sweep of the big hand.
- The cheesy (you might even say SPAM-like) copy at the bottom, which hops around from one marketing cliche to another.
Some may consider those last two bullet points evidence that this label was done by a committee of hung-over Hormel marketing summer interns. I posit that the cheese factor is intentional, self-referential, and ingeniously self-deprecating.
So congratulations to the writer and the designer. You are uncredited, but not unappreciated.
