Why do supermarkets play such depressing music?

The other night I heard what must be the most depressing song about masturbation ever, The Carpenters' "Solitaire", while looking for cheap sunglasses in Rite-Aid. Which got me to wondering why grocery stores play sad songs.

Is it just me? Are they actually playing a mix of music but I'm only picking up on the sadder songs? Even if that's the case, that's still some sad songs in there. Are people influenced to buy more when sad? Especially jarring is the difference between the song and the interruption by the cheery person reading this week's ad. Is the intent then to make me feel bad, until the happy special on beef jerky rescues me from the doldrums?

Personally, if I'm sad, I'm unlikely to purchase more; I'll probably buy less. And I'll purposely avoid a grocery store if I know they'll be playing sad and cheesy songs.

I haven't noticed particularly sad songs, but there sure is a lot of sappy coming out of the speakers at my local grocery or discount store. I think it might have something to do with the cost of the song, though. From what I can tell, most of the sleepy tunes they pump into those places are, at best, minor hits from bands that were popular twenty-to-forty years ago.

Because depressed people sometimes try to eat away their depression. They're hoping you'll buy more groceries.

Its done wonders for their ice cream sales!

Fortunately, none of my local grocery stores play muzak at me. Please don't give them any ideas.

Crap tunes make the customer want to get out of the store quicker, while spending the same amount of money. This results in shoppers purchasing stuff they didn't want, and not purchasing stuff they needed; hence ensuring another wreckless spending visit to the store at some time in the near future.

I suppose you could always try and find a store where they play the good stuff?

It's just you. Pretty much all stores play one satellite radio station or another at this point. Maybe your Rite-Aid (those are grocery stores now?) just happens to be tuned to the "crying in your beer" station, but more likely it's just a mix of crappy pop music, like all the rest of them. :)

I never notice the music at the grocery store unless it's instrumental Muzak. I mean, really. Who still plays that stuff? Why did we need an orchestral version of "Yesterday?" Was the original version that jarring and edgy? :smack:Shake:

"Our" grocery store usually seems to have it on some 80s playlist, with a fair amount of alternative stuff, which makes me happy, even if it is a little weird to find myself humming along to The Boy With A Thorn In His Side while comparing fiber content in breakfast cereals...

Quote:

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Originally posted by artifex

...humming along to The Boy With A Thorn In His Side while comparing fiber content in breakfast cereals...

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Perhaps the thorny sensation was diverticulitis? :tongue:

Mine always plays odd, "alternative" music. I gon't get it.

There are actual studies on this sort of thing!?

You just have to pay $31.50 to see what they've got to say.

My local supermarkets don't have music, they just pump the smell of freshly baked bread around the store.

I've noticed most grocery stores and pharmacies have some sort of 1980s-era playlist, with the diversity of musical selections varying. Why they're all trapped in the 1980s, I don't know. When I was a kid in the 1970s and 1980s, you certainly didn't hear 1940s big band music in supermarkets; it was either Muzak or stuff like Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, bossa nova songs like The Girl from Ipanema, and other selections in the easy listening genre. There was the occasional upbeat song, but it was usually a production instrumental, like The Typewriter Song.

There's a few exceptions. Wegmans plays fairly upbeat, and often edgy music, spanning from the 1970s through to the 2000s.

Most independent stores now seem to play a Music Choice or DMX channel, or one of the music channels from Dish Network or DirecTV. There are Music Choice and DMX channels in a commercial tier not available to home consumers that play ethnic music intended for restaurants.

This one store I worked at, they made us read some book on the science of shopping. How people enter stores, where their eyes go, how they interact with displays, etc. I don't remember much of it now and I forget anything it had on music at all.

Mostly I just remember how insane my boss was. So, so insane.