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Endless playing of songs like All I Want for Christmas Is You in shops during the festive season doesn't just drive us mad—the songs also make us more careless with our money, research has warned.
While the repeated performance of Jingle Bells may seem like an innocent attempt to raise customers' spirits during the nightmare of Christmas shopping, the songs also have a more delicate impact.
“‘Background music’ or‘Muzak’ can be used by marketers to impose cultures—such as the commercialization of Christmas—onto consumers and influence their behaviour，” experts said.
Dr Alan Bradshaw of Royal Holloway, University of London, said，“Festive jingles are forcefed to Christmas shoppers to change their mood, influence their sense of time and what sort of products they buy. In other words, this is an attempt to control their shopping habits in a way that they might hardly be aware of.”
“Often we are told that we have the freedom to choose where we want to shop, but during Christmas the use of music in this way is so common that our freedom to choose disappears.”
Dr Bradshaw and Professor Morris Holbrook of Columbia University examined the phenomenon and found that retailers often “dumb down” the music played in shops to relax customers, meaning it is easier to control their behaviour.
It is thought that slowing down the rhythm of music in shops can trick customers into thinking less time has passed, and therefore they spend more time examining the shelves, for example.
Some providers of background music have been known to promote their services by claiming they can boost profits by controlling the behaviour of customers.
“A common trick is to take a popular current song and record an instrumental version which can be slowed down or sped up at different time of the day to influence behaviour in different ways，” Dr Bradshaw said.
Background music is often classed as “Muzak” in honour of the Seattlebased company which began producing its softsounding melodies in the 1930s.
1.According to Dr Bradshaw, in what ways does Christmas music influence customers?
①their mood ②their income ③their sense of time
④the sort of products they buy
A.①②③ B.①③④
C.②③④ D.①②④
2.Shopkeepers slow down the rhythm of music in shops to ________.
A.let customers spend more time shopping
B.make customers and sales assistants relaxed
C.let customers enjoy the beautiful music
D.help customers find what they really want
3.What kind of music is now often adapted to influence customers in shops?
A.Classical music.
B.Popular modern songs.
C.Folk songs.
D.Jazz music.
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A.Music makes happy Christmas
B.Christmas “Muzak”
C.How to make Christmas music
D.Christmas music makes us spend more
