Spam accounted for 89 percent of all e-mail messages in July 2009, with image spam making up 17 percent of all spam at one point during the month, according to Symantec’s August 2009 "State of Spam Report."
During the month, health spam decreased by 17 percent, while product and 419 spam increased eight and 3 percent, respectively, month-over-month. Additionally, with President Barack Obama’s administration hitting its 200-day mark on Aug. 6th and all of the talk about reform and health insurance in the U.S., most of the spam messages in July referencing Obama were promoting health spam, even though health spam actually decreased.
Following the death of Michael Jackson on June 25th, several Jackson-related spam and malware campaigns emerged, but Symantec noted that as the general public interest in his death dissipated, so too did spammers stop using his name for attacks.