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Pavlovian conditioning effect on gambling be-
havior” (p. 400).
There has been considerable research into
environmental sounds and its impact on consumer
behavior in regards to advertising and retail.
Servicescapes—that is, the soundscape and land-
scape of the service environment—have been one
recent area of focus in advertising and marketing
research. A pleasant ambience, it is felt, is key to
a pleasurable shopping experience. Congruency
in ambience between the brand, sounds scent, and
other aspects of the store are vital to a positive
consumer experience (see Mattilaa & Wirtz, 2001).
Companies like the now-defunct Muzak have, of
course, built businesses on this idea. Alvin Collis,
VP of strategy and brand for Muzak, outlines the
concept of the servicescape:
spent. Young people under 25 perceived that
they had spent longer in an “easy listening” store
condition, while older shoppers perceived that
they had spent longer in a Top 40 store condition.
Familiar music led to the impression that they were
shopping longer (Yalch & Spangenberg, 2000).
Muzak's website described of its music concept
(what it terms “audio architecture”):
Its power lies in its subtlety. It bypasses the resis-
tance of the mind and targets the receptiveness
of the heart. When people are made to feel good
in, say, a store, they feel good about that store.
They like it. Remember it. Go back to it. Audio
Architecture builds a bridge to loyalty. (Muzak
Corporation, n.d)
Music is, of course, not the only element of
environmental sound that plays into the overall
ambience. Sound effects, such as in Discovery
Channel's stores with sound zones, or a Canadian
supermarket close to one of the authors, Sobey's,
which has chirping birds and frogs in the produce
aisle, can also create an overall atmosphere. Both
sound effects and music can help to quickly iden-
tify a brand for consumers without prior experience
of that brand. Music can cue the shopper as to the
intended market, and a poor choice of music can
clash with the values of the brand (Beverland,
Lim, Morrison, & Terziovski 2006).
Griffiths and Parke (2005) draw on a theoretical
model by Condry and Scheibe (1989) regarding
persuasion in advertising and adopt this model for
slot machine sound. They suggest that there are
stages in the persuasion process that involves a per-
son committing to the machine. This begins with
exposure (they must be exposed to the machine
and that might be in a bar) and leads to attention
(in which sound plays a particularly important role
to draw attention in a noisy atmosphere). From
there, comprehension and yielding takes place—
a familiar musical theme helps draw the player
in, believing the machine is socially acceptable
because the sound is likable and familiar. Finally,
I walked into a store and understood: this is just
like a movie. The company has built a set, and
they've hired actors and given them costumes and
taught them their lines, and every day they open
their doors and say, 'Let's put on a show.' It was
retail theatre. And I realized then that Muzak's
business wasn't really about selling music. It
was about selling emotion—about finding the
soundtrack that would make this store or that
restaurant feel like something, rather than being
just an intellectual proposition. (see Owen, 2006)
Certainly, statistics seem to back-up Muzak's
ideas, with some studies suggesting that young
people spend 36% more time in a shop when
music is being played, that if Muzak is played in
a supermarket, it will increase the percentage of
customers making a purchase there by 17%, and
so on (KSK Productions, n.d). Generally speaking,
consumers spend longer in environments when
there is some form of background music as long
as the volume is low and uncomplex (Garlin &
Owen, 2006, p. 761). Music tempo changes can
alter the length of time a shopper spends as well
as the amount of money. Not only this, but music
can also influence the perceived amount of time
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