Storepranksters have fun in the aisles, retailers
TAMPA (AP) – Managers at Publix supermarkets have new troublemakers to chase down besides the usual shoplifters: children running through the store in chicken suits.
Bored or rebellious, and with way too much time on their hands, young people are arming themselves with video and cell phone cameras to record their shenanigans at stores. They post the images on the video-sharing Web site YouTube or social networking sites such as MySpace.
Lakeland-based Publix seems to be a prankster favorite. So, too, are Wal-Mart, Kmart, McDonald’s, Best Buy and, to a lesser extent, Tampa-based Sweetbay supermarkets.
A search of YouTube videos turned up:
-Thrill-seekers venturing into Publix stores wearing a chicken suit, gingerbread man suit or banana suit. The banana prankster breaks out in a mock cry upon spotting the bananas in produce.
– Children using the Wal-Mart intercom system. After punching in a secret code, one floppy-haired youth can be seen serenading shoppers with Sir Mix-A-Lot’s comedy-rap classic “Baby Got Back.”
– Fun with Best Buy’s car stereos. In a video called “How to Get Kicked Out of Best Buy,” a young man sporting a Mohawk and Dr. Martens-style boots slips a CD into a car stereo system at a Toronto-area Best Buy, cranks up the volume and with a female friend dances to the music.
Most of the videos appear harmless, reminiscent of lighter versions of morning radio show stunts or the MTV show “Jackass.”
However, one isn’t: Teenage girls enter what appears to be a Publix and take videos of large-bottomed women. Once again, the theme song is “Baby Got Back.”
Retailers aren’t eager to talk about the trend.
A Publix spokeswoman was aware of the YouTube videos but suggested it is an industrywide issue and directed a reporter to the Florida Retail Federation. Wal-Mart did not respond to an interview request.
The National Retail Federation has never discussed store pranks with YouTube or any other video-sharing Web site, said Joseph LaRocca, the federation’s vice president of loss prevention.
Individual retailers, though, have contacted the Web sites, usually when a video shows someone committing a crime such as shoplifting. Another cause for action is when something proprietary hits the Web, such as an employee training video, LaRocca said.
Pranks may seem harmless, but retailers worry they can be dangerous if, for example, a teen is shown going down an escalator improperly or store employees are taken away from more important duties to deal with stunts, LaRocca said.
In most cases, retailers may be turning a blind eye to the issue, said Paul Levinson, a professor of communication and media studies at New York’s Fordham University. With the recession raging, retailers need every sale they can get and probably don’t want to be labeled unfriendly to young people, Levinson said.
Levinson just finished a book, “New New Media,” in which he mentions the 2008 Polk County teen beating case in which five girls struck an acquaintance, videotaped it and planned to post it on YouTube.
In some cases, YouTube has taken down such videos, Levinson said. YouTube did not respond to an e-mail interview request.
Levinson said he would oppose removing most pranks from YouTube, calling that “walking down that road” toward censorship. Quoting the axiom “all publicity is good publicity,” he wondered whether some retailers benefit from pranksters.
People see a kid pull a stunt in Wal-Mart on YouTube and remember to pop by the store to buy something, he said.
Some pranks are more elaborate than others. In one Best Buy stunt, staged in 2006, a group called Improv Everywhere gathered 80 young people and had them dress in royal blue polo shirts and khaki pants – the outfit that Best Buy employees wear.
Then the group descended on a Best Buy store in New York and videotaped the confusion as customers moved from uniform to uniform seeking help. The video is at improveverywhere.com/2006/04/23/best-buy.
Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere’s founder, said he never heard from Best Buy about the stunt.
“We focus on doing things that are hilarious rather than things that humiliate someone else,” Todd said in an e-mail.
“Usually our events are met with smiles and laughter, though occasionally a cranky store manager might call the police. Since we never break the law, there’s not much stores can do besides ask us to leave.”