The secret messages in shopping mall music

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Background music is an integral part of modern commercial space like malls, retail stores, transit, elevators and other public spaces. It hopes to positively affect the customer’s mood, resulting in better shopping experiences for the customers and the retailers.

However, when you are shopping, if the malls’ background music suddenly turns to something intense and rhythmic, you must know what's happening because it could be a warning to remind you of thieves in the area.

Recently, a Weibo user shared her experience in a shopping mall and it soon generated a buzz online, with many netizens saying that they have encountered the same situation, except that each store has different music.

Weibo user's post /Weibo Photo

Another Weibo user responded, saying that “thieves sometimes don't just steal from customers, they also steal the phones or items from employees on the counter, so many stores will use the background music to remind the counter staff, and ask the clerk to help remind customers.”

Even the Beijing Police Department’s official Weibo posted about people’s experiences with the alarming background music.

But do such warnings actually exist? Shanghai’s Jiuguang Department Store said yes. The store changes the music to remind the clerk to be on the lookout for thieves.

Jiuguang Department Store. /VCG Photo

According to the security guard of the store, "If we saw a habitual thief, we will tell the radio station and change the music. The reminder music is not a song, but an intense rhythm. All of the clerks who hear it will know that and remind customers.”

Of course, these are also many other uses of this technique, such as that if it suddenly starts to rain, the background music will be replaced with raindrop sounds to remind customers in a department store

Maybe the background music will one day influence a thief to repent.