The Hawaii Spam can design by Scott Kaneshiro of Mililani, encasing the reduced-sodium version of the staple, will hit store shelves Aug. 1 — and to promote the limited-time-only can design, Spam maker Hormel Foods is staging a video contest.
There will be a related interview on KHJZ-FM 93.9 at 9 a.m. today (Monday), but if you want the details now, here they are.
Hawaii Spam fans 18 or older can create 30-second videos of themselves singing a song, doing a rap, performing a dance or other Spam-promoting activity — maybe a Spam slam (as in slam poetry) — and upload the video to hawaiispamcan. com from today through Aug. 12.
Kaneshiro, art director at the Madden Corp. by day, doubts he’ll enter. "I veer a lot more toward the shy type, the behind-the-scenes type," he chuckled. He was in the spotlight at the Waikiki Spam Jam in April where he was introduced as the design contest winner — and took the stage with his daughters and a huge replica of a can with his winning design.
Hawaii residents can vote for their favorite video entry from Aug. 15 until 11:59 p.m. Aug. 19.
Hormel will select the winner from among the top five vote-getters, and the grand-prize winner will receive $500 cash, an Auto Moto three-wheeled scooter; a Spam gift bag and a year’s supply of Hawaii’s favorite canned meat. The four runners-up also will receive a gift bag and a case of Spam products.
Hawaii statehood still denied
It’s so frustrating that the fact of Hawaii’s statehood still eludes Americans.
Star-Advertiser reader Bill Payne, who is a Home Depot shopper, apparently provided the first clue of Hawaii’s statehood to one of the home improvement retailer’s customer service representatives recently.
An Oahu Home Depot store employee suggested Payne check homedepot.com for a wider selection of the light sets he was looking to buy, so he did.
He found and tried to order what he wanted, but ran in to trouble because he tried to have the item shipped to Hawaii. He sent a query to customer service, to which he received the following reply:
"We appreciate your interest in the Progress Lighting Rizu Collection 3-Light Polished Chrome Vanity Fixture and we apologize for the inconvenience. While Hawaii is a recognized United States territory, it is not one of the 50 United States. Please understand that Home Depot online currently does not accept orders with a shipping and billing address outside of the 50 United States."
Payne characterized Home Depot’s answer as "truly ridiculous" in his "toned-down" email reply.
The mistaken characterization of Hawaii was "clearly an agent error," said Steve Holmes, Home Depot spokesman in Atlanta. "We’re well aware of the fact that Hawaii is a state and very proud of the fact that we have eight stores there."
It is true, however, that shipping to Hawaii is "available for many, but not all products on homedepot.com," and that shipping availability is included in the product detail on the site.
