A musical experiment from the '80s to keep B.C. teens from loitering is now a global practice

In the mid-'80s, managers of 7-Eleven stores in B.C. faced a problem they thought was cutting into their bottom line teenagers hanging around the doorway.

The company felt teens lingering outside stores were driving other customers away. Management in B.C. met with store staff and psychologists to brainstorm ideas to tackle the issue.

The solution they came up withseemed surprisingly simple:play classicalor easy listening music known as Muzak in parking lots to keep teenagers from hanging out.

Music was used at 10 B.C. stores and soon spread to more than 150 7-Eleven location across North America, according to California-based musicologistLily Hirsch. In the years that followed, the practice of using music as a deterrent has been usedacross the world.

WATCH|The background music that helps B.C. convenience stores keep loiterers away

The background music that helps B.C. convenience stores keep loiterers away

2 years ago

Duration 2:02

On Sept. 3, 1990, CBC's Ian Hanomansing visited a 7-Eleven in Richmond, B.C., that was using a new tool to stop young people from loitering in front of their store: Muzak.

Hirsch's book,Music in American Crime Prevention and Punishment, includes a statement fromthe company saying it started the practice at several of its B.C.-based stores in 1985.

Hirsch writes thatthere are earlierexamples of businesses using music to keep people from lingering, but 7-Eleven says it is"the first company purposely to flip programmed music's primary function from lure to repellent" and it "appears to be the first corporation to have sanctioned such an approach as policy."

"I think other people did it subconsciously around the same time, but 7-Eleventook ownership of it," Hirsch told CBCNews.

That approach, which 7-Eleven developed in B.C., continues to pop up around the world. Hirschsays she regularly comes across media reports discussing variations on the same theme.

In 2012, the Washington Post wrote aboutclassical music being played at the New York Port Authority. In 2019, atown in Florida garnered attention forblasting the children's song Baby Sharkto keep homeless people from congregating outside an events centre.

Last year,opera music was blastedoutside a drop-in space and safe consumption site in Prince George, a practice that local outreach workers referred to as "cruel."

WATCH| Repetitive opera music blaring at Prince George drop-in centre:

Opera music played to drive away people near drop-in centre

3 years ago

Duration 1:06

Some outreach workers and volunteers are upset after the Fire Pit, a cultural drop-in centre in downtown Prince George, started playing opera music trying to drive away people sitting outside the building, which also houses a safe consumption site.

7-Eleven has not responded to a request forcomment about whether itstill plays music outside any of its stores.

Victoria 7-Eleven criticized for use of dripping water

The convenience store chain recently faced criticism after one of itsstores inVictoria setup a systemthat deliberately dripped water from the underside of an awningto deter people from loitering.

Advocates for vulnerable populations in the cityhave saidthe use of dripping water to prevent loiteringwas degrading, especially for homeless people.

A recent report in the Times-Colonist says thestore, located on Quadra and Yates streets, has stopped using the tactic. CBCNews has asked 7-Eleven for comment, but has yet to receive a response.

Marking space with music

While the dripping water deterrentdidn't last long,the company's musical tacticsappear to have staying power.

Hirsch said she first became interested in the topic after reading a 2006 news story about asuburb of Sydney, Australia using Barry Manilow music to repel teenagers.

Hirsch notes that most people have positive associations with music, which makes it a more subtletool to prevent loitering.Dripping waterfeels more intrusive than pipingMandy through loudspeakers, she says.

"It was marking space, communicating this space doesn't belong to you, but they could use these positiveassociations with music to create this kind of confusion and this plausible deniability," she said.

In Sept. 1990, CBC News visited a 7-Eleven store in Richmond, B.C., that played Muzak outside the store. Manager Kevin St. Denis saidit was a hit with at least one neighbouring household.

"They hear it through their bedroom and they say it helps them go to sleep," he said.

While the music played outside stores may be soft and lilting, Hirsch says the message it sends is loud and clear.

"Really what's happening is you're segregating space."