Domestically, Spam's chief advantages were affordability, accessibility, and extended shelf life.At the time it was introduced, it was the only canned meat product on the market that needed no refrigeration.Statistics from the 1990s say that 3.8 cans of Spam are consumed every second in the United States,totaling nearly 122 million cans annually. It became part of the diet of almost 30% of American households, perceived differently in various regions of the country.It is also sometimes associated with economic hardship because of its relatively low cost.