I've said this before: Symantec has the best software engineering combined with the foulest marketing. The Flamer spam we have all been receiving is a good example of the latter.
To begin: The name "Flamer" is a crude ripof of "Flame" - the name given by Kaspersky, who first discovered the virus. Symantec is trying to steal Kaspersky's thunder.
More important: For Symantec to boldly proclaim that it is protecting us from malware written to conduct espionage on targeted computers in the Middle East is ridiculous. Flame has thus far infected perhaps a thousand computers located in several middle eastern and north African countries. Although it has shown up elsewhere, that was clearly not the developer's intention.
In addition, Flame has been active since 2010, and possibly earlier, but it's only now that Kaspersky published its existence that Symantec felt the need to send a 'we are saving the world' email. This email looks not much different than the fake antivirus emails that Norton AntiSpam routinely filters.
Good work Symantec.