Maybe music really does soothe the savage beast

Music has charms to soothe the savage beast… Which suggests that music has the capability to calm even wild animals. With clever signage, strict admission policies and carefully curated playlists, are supermarkets cooling the hysteria in the toilet paper aisle? 

Right now, supermarkets are one of the few places we’re allowed to visit, and music, while typically fun and upbeat to encourage shopping, has been carefully selected to maintain a more positive, if restrained, atmosphere. Yes, you read that right, it means you won’t be hearing Britney Spears’ “Toxic” or even the Bee Gees’ classic “Stayin’ Alive” while traversing the dairy aisle anytime soon. 

Music is one of a host of tricks supermarkets are using to try to encourage shoppers to maintain social distancing, and not to panic buy. Playlists also no longer contain slower songs, or those with lyrics (like Stayin’ Alive) that could be misinterpreted. Walking around a supermarket listening to one of Lewis Capaldi’s ballads, while hugely popular, is not the kind of vibe they’re trying to create at the moment either. 

Some stores have gone as far as replacing recorded advertisements with public service announcements reinforcing social distancing policies and the supermarkets’ own request for shoppers to be respectful of the staff working to keep shelves stocked and all of us fed.

Of course, music and in-store announcements are just one of the ways supermarkets have adapted to conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. While some measures are fairly straightforward such as lines on the floor indicating 6 ft. intervals and plexiglass screens at checkouts, there’s a lot more to it than that. 

At the moment, supermarkets’ primary objective is to keep stores safe. Keeping customers calm is one thing, but overall, retraining customers how to behave is key. After all, we’ve spent all our lives shopping in supermarkets in a certain way, so we’ve developed certain habits, mainly crowding and getting close to people.

New tactics like abbreviated store hours and restricting the number of people in stores have helped to reduce the feelings of anxiety or pressure while picking up groceries. Likewise, posters around the store put visible triggers in our minds about how we need to shop differently: be calm, be responsible, be sensible and there will be enough for everybody. Just last Sunday, as I filled my cart with two very carefully planned weeks of groceries, I noticed all of us moving about with purpose, in a carefully orchestrated dance to avoid each other. 

Behavioral research has shown that if you repeat a behavior for between 18 to 90 days, it can lead to the formation of long term habits. It’s entirely possible that people will continue their lockdown enforced routines even after restrictions on movement have been lifted, and supermarkets will have largely contributed to these behavior changes long after we get our Bee Gees back.