UK retail giant Marks and Spencer has announced they will be turning off the music in all of their stores, allowing shoppers to do their browsing in complete silence. They’ve already shut off music in 300 stores.
One spokesperson for the company told News Corp the decision came in response to customer feedback which showed that many M&S shoppers aren’t fans of the “piped music” that dominates many retail stores.
“We’re focused on putting the customer at the heart of everything we do, this decision is the result of extensive research and feedback from our customers and colleagues,” he said. But this could soon become a widespread thing.
If UK campaign group Pipedown had their way, music would be banned or otherwise turned down to a very low volume in most places where people gather, including retail stores, restaurants, and even pubs and clubs.
As Munchies reports, Pipedown have banded with deafness charity Action on Hearing Loss and will launch a drive to get pubs to lower the volume levels of their music and install sound-mitigating materials next month.
“When it leads to you getting the wrong order or not being able to have a conversation and you’re missing the main bit of the joke because you just can’t hear it, you feel left out. Background music makes it harder to pick up a particular voice,” AOH spokesperson Gorki Duhra told The Times.
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“Pubs should generate their own buzz from people talking and enjoying themselves,” said Pipedown’s Nigel Rodgers. “Many people who have hearing problems won’t go out to these places and those establishments are losing out on their custom.”
“I don’t mind a bit of soft jazz but it has to be something that you can get away from,” he added, more or less confirming that this whole thing is a particularly egregious case of several old men yelling at a cloud.
Their complaints also deserve some scrutiny. As Munchies notes, studies have shown that music actually has a positive effect on the taste of food. Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal even created a seafood dish meant to be eaten to sounds of the ocean.
