• In A Down Economy, Spam Sales Are Up
  Sales up for spam, pancake mix, instant potatoes, frozen pot pies and side dishes, rice, beans, Kraft macaroni and cheese, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Velveeta. Sales down for paper towels, socks, shoe polish, women’s fragrances. Interesting, I guess, but why do they imply a comparison between foods on the upside and other items on the downside?

One Response to “ChittahChattah Quickies”

Yes, this struck me as a ridiculous comparison in terms of sales, almost a bit too panicky, like, “oh my people are going to stop buying everything. what’s left?”

Also, keep in mind that the price of Spam works out to $3.20 per pound. Tuna is cheaper — as are certain cuts of fresh meat AND Hormel’s own boneless ham. So it’s not clear to me that this is an indication of cost saving. It reminds me of all those articles about “comfort food” after 9/11 and the prediction of a demise of restaurant dining. While people may have been operating on different motives than they had been a few weeks before, it wasn’t clear that the Times had done a good job sussing out what those motives might be….

Comment by Alice 11.17.08 @ 11:47 am

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