What Is Mainsleaze?

What's the answer to combining a company people know and love with a product people don't want to buy? You get the dreaded "mainsleaze" campaign. Mainsleaze is a term that refers to spam or low-quality marketing done by reputable mainstream businesses, as opposed to faceless black hatters or infamous spamming companies. It describes campaigns often disputed by the companies in question or movements out of character for these companies. The term "mainsleaze" in IT refers to spam or low-quality marketing done by reputable mainstream businesses instead of faceless black hatters or infamous spamming companies. It describes campaigns often disputed by the companies in question or campaigns out of character for these companies. If you've ever received a spam message from a major retailer and wondered why it was sent to you, it's possible that the retailer had nothing to do with it. "Mainsleaze" refers to spam campaigns by third parties pretending to be someone else. The name comes from an urban legend about a man who used to send out spam messages that claimed he was the "main squeeze" of some woman named Sarah. He would claim he had been in love with her for years and wanted everyone to know about it—by forwarding his message to everyone they knew. In today's marketing world, it's common for marketers to use "mainsleaze" tactics to get their name out without involvement with the campaign itself. For example, suppose an advertiser wants their name associated with a product or service but can't afford advertising space or time on television or radio. In that case, they might instead pay someone else (such as a third party) to send out spam messages using their name instead of theirs and hope those recipients will then tell others about what they got in their inboxes!