Porn is Out, Drugs are In   - 4,735 Views, 1 Comment

Timothy Leary would be proud. As a nation we are turning away from lurid sex displays in which women are debased and objectified, and turning towards drugs.

At least in our spam.

According AOL, and based on a recent analysis of their incoming spam (and they should know, they get a lot of it, despite their recently announced 60% decline in inbound spam), ads for online porn are no longer the #1 spam, and have been replaced by ads for prescription drugs such as Vioxx (of course, ironically, Vioxx has just been withdrawn from the market due to an alledged link between Vioxx and heart attack. Look for Vioxx spam to mutate into “Vioxx attorney” spam).

In fact, porn spam slipped from being the top type of spam email sent in 2004 to an anemic fourth place, although the top porn subject line, “STEAMY HOT LESBIAN ACTION LIVE ON CAMERA!”, seems like it should still be an attention grabber. Instead, second and third place “honours” went to spam with the subject lines “You’ve been sent an Insta-Kiss” and “You Have 17 New Pictures”, respectively, both of which were fronts for phishing scams.

So, if you’re getting it more, but enjoying it less, now you know why.

Spam, that is.