The company felt that teenagers staying out of stores drove other customers away. BC management met with store staff and psychologists to gather ideas on how to address the issue. The solution they came up with seemed surprisingly simple: play classical or easy music, known as Muzak, in parking lots to discourage teenagers from hanging out. Music was used in shops 10 BC. and soon spread to more than 150 7-Eleven locations across North America, according to California-based musicologist Lily Hirsch. In the years since, the practice of using music as a deterrent has been used around the world. WATCHES | The background music that helps BC’s convenience stores keep loiterers at bay
The background music that helps BC’s convenience stores keep loiterers at bay
On September 3, 1990, the CBC’s Ian Hanomansing visited a 7-Eleven in Richmond, BC, which was using a new tool to stop youths from loitering in front of their store: Muzak. Hirsch’s book, Music in American Crime Prevention and Punishment, includes a statement from the company that says it began the practice at many of its BC-based stores in 1985. Hirsch writes that there are previous examples of businesses using music to stop people from lingering, but 7-Eleven says it is “the first company to intentionally change the primary function of programmed music from a lure to a deterrent” and “it appears to be the first company to adopt such an approach as a policy.” “I think other people were doing it subconsciously at the same time, but 7-Eleven took it over,” Hirsch told CBC News. This approach, developed by 7-Eleven in BC, continues to be seen around the world. Hirsch says she regularly comes across media reports discussing variations on the same theme. In 2012, the Washington Post wrote about the classical music being played at the New York Port Authority. In 2019, a city in Florida drew attention for blasting the children’s song Baby Shark to stop homeless people from gathering outside an event center. Last year, opera music was blasted out of a storage and consumption facility in Prince George, a practice local partners described as “cruel.” WATCHES | Repetitive operatic music reverberating through the Prince George Welcome Center:
Opera music was playing to divert people near the reception center
Some workers and volunteers are upset after the Fire Pit, a cultural center in downtown Prince George, started playing opera music in an attempt to chase people sitting outside the building, which also houses a safe drinking area. 7-Eleven has not responded to a request for comment on whether it still plays music outside any of its stores.
Victoria 7-Eleven criticized for using dripping water
The convenience store chain recently faced criticism after one of its stores in Victoria installed a system that deliberately dripped water from the bottom of an awning to deter people from wandering around. Advocates for vulnerable people in the city said the use of trickling water to prevent loitering was degrading, especially for the homeless. A recent report in the Times-Colonist says the store, located at Quadra and Yates streets, has stopped using the tactic. CBC News has reached out to 7-Eleven for comment, but has yet to hear back.
Space marking with music
While the dripping water deterrent didn’t last long, the company’s musical tactics seem to have held. Hirsch said she became interested in the topic after reading a 2006 news story about a suburb in Sydney, Australia, using Barry Manilow’s music to repel teenagers. Hirsch notes that most people have positive associations with music, which makes it a more subtle tool for preventing wandering. Dripping water is more annoying than sending Mandy through the loudspeakers, he says. “Mark the space, the communication of that space is not yours, but they could use those positive associations with music to create that kind of confusion and that plausible deniability,” he said. A 7-Eleven store in central Victoria has faced criticism after it set up a water drip system to deter people from loitering. (Kathryn Marlow/CBC News) In September 1990, CBC News visited a 7-Eleven store in Richmond, BC, that was playing Muzak outside the store. Director Kevin St. Denis said it was a hit with at least one neighboring household. “They hear it from their bedroom and say it helps them sleep,” he said. While the music played outside the stores may be soft and lively, Hirsch says the message it sends is loud and clear. “Really what’s happening is you’re separating space.”
