Spam is the menace of the Internet age. Email as a mass communication medium has the greatest advantage in being so incredibly easy to use and of nearly no cost to the sender. And that is also it's greatest disadvantage.
Spam actually is spiced ham produced by Hormel Foods Corporation. They even hold the trademark to it. Then came the well-known Monty Python Sketch of the restaurant invaded by singing vikings that repeated the word "spam" so often and loud that all other conversation became impossible.
In 1994 the first internet spam appeared, when a US law firm advertised their Greencard Immigration Lottery on several Usenet open forums. Online etiquette (the "netiquette") demanded everybody to respect each other and treat the scarce resources called internet very carefully. And along came those lawyers and showed the world that the internet was not the sacrosant place of brotherly (and sisterly! - Monty Python!) harmony anymore and that capitalism had once more won over idealism.
From newsgroups spam very soon after moved on to email. The difference was that in newsgroups one could decide whether to read or simply ignore the message on the server. But email came to you and forced you to deal with it! And to the spammers it does not matter if you are male, female, a child or a dog, they still try to sell you body part enlargements, wonder diets, casino and other get rich fast scams, poor nigerian ex-presidents who need your help to recover their money, dates for the dateless or old school friends, you name it!
Most of spam emails still originate in the US. Well, most spam receivers also sit there. And spam still is on the rise month after month, even though in many countries harsh anti-spam laws are being implemented or already active.
Spamming from or to an Australian email account is for example now a criminal offence under the Spam Act 2003 and can be punished with penalties of up to AU$1,100,000 per day for repeat offenders. The Australian Communications Authority has a great set of information for Australian Businesses.
Do not spam! It is a criminal offence in Australia and you will be charged harsh penalties for spamming! On the Information for Australian Businesses website you can read up more about the (Anti-)Spam Act 2003 and the penalties.
For your online marketing efforts, there are much better ways around and we will gladly help you with any campaigns to boost your internet presence and market online to new and existing customers.