Macn Bacn!

I came across an article on "bacn", a newly-coined term for a category of junk email.

Spam is widely used to refer to unsolicited emails that are blasted to millions of people. Bacn is slightly different, in that it's legitimate marketing. Bacn is the result of giving out your email address to airlines, stores, etc: Those offers and email promotions that constantly show up in your inbox. Personally, I get Bacn from at least 3 different banks, 2 airlines, several retail stores, a few charities, and some ecommerce sites. Sometimes the Spam filter relegates it to my junk mail folder automatically, but most of the time it makes it through to my inbox unscathed. (Oddly enough, I find there is no pattern to this filtering - even emails from the same company can end up in either folder with no predictability.)

It's usually easy to unsubscribe from bacn - most legitimate marketers include an unsubscribe link in each email. But I just go ahead and tolerate the 99% that is not relevant to me, in the hopes that eventually the 1% of truly compelling and timely offers will show up. After all, how difficult is it to delete a few messages a day?

By far, the most unusual bacn that I receive comes from GE Appliances. I once used their website to request a service call for our refrigerator, and I've gotten about one email per month ever since. It includes recipes, and often sweepstakes. Each one just barely passes the bar to prevent me from unsubscribing.

What's your most unique (or annoying) bacn?