Several people have mentioned Target to me since Algora Publishing came out with my book on captive-audience media called Noise Wars. Just this weeked Theodore Rueter, the president of Noise Free America, complimented the book in a review on Amazon for its stand against compulsory media—and, yes, he also mentions Target’s policy, implemeted about 15 years ago, to can the canned music.

So, here’s my official plug for Target’s policy to eschew overhead music and just let shoppers enjoy their own thoughts while they’re looking for school supplies or a bargain on paper towels.

It takes a self-confident company not to try to manipulate its customers’ emotions by piping in focus-group-approved music. In my book, any company that respects its customers enough to let them shop without trying to give them a sensory experience is all right with me.

Worse than the music is the point-of-sale TVs or other video monitors throughout so many stores today. These are less about trying to manipulate your mood and more about bludgeoning you with information you haven’t asked for and have no way of tuning out. It’s an egregious form of disrespect. So, I’m happy to give Target this free publicity as a thank you for treating its customers as adults with minds of their own.

Here’s Rueter’s Amazon review, posted this weekend:

Noise Wars: Compulsory Media and Our Loss of Autonomyis an outstanding book. It is exhastively researched, very well-written, informative, interesting, and entertaining. It is extremely useful for the fight against “compulsory media” and other forms of noise pollution.

Robert Freedman examines the explosive growth of “compulsory media,” which is now everywhere: buses, airports, gas station pumps, taxis, elevators, sports stadiums, schools, downtowns, restaurants, subways, restrooms, doctor’s offices, gyms, stores, and malls.

Freedman points out that there is now “street-furniture TV,” in which “media companies install TV screens in ‘street furniture’ like bus stops, kiosks, benches, and the other structures that make up the familiar landscape. ‘People can actually watch movie trailers at bus stops,’ says Jean-Luc-Decaux of J.C. Decaux North America, a French marketing group with US operations based in Chicago” (p.27).

I dislike compulsory media intensely. This past summer, I left a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game during the first inning because of the constant pounding from the public speaker system and the organ–even between pitches! (They also blasted rock and roll in the men’s room.) I recently walked out of a chiropractor’s office because of the annoying ‘background music’–even in a treatment room. When I asked the chiropractor to at least turn it down in the treatment room, he refused. I try to go to the supermarket on Sunday mornings, because that’s when stores tend to play quieter, classical music. One of the reasons I hate flying is because of the constant, irritating announcements (“Attention passengers. Do not accept packages from strangers. Do not accept packages from strangers”), as well as the ubiquitous presence of television monitors broadcasting CNN.

As Rob Freemdan points out, increasingly, there is no place to hide. In terms of shopping, the only refuge is Target, which eliminated “background music” more than 15 years ago. I go out of my way to shop at Target.

I highly recommend Noise Wars: Compulsory Media and Our Loss of Autonomy to anyone interested in social trends, media studies, social psychology, or social activism. It is a terrific read.

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