Change the Music

I sent the following letter after hearing shocking music in PacSun while shopping with Chris. I hesitate to use the word "shocking" because it sounds like I'm exaggerating or old. But it was SHOCKING to hear that music over the radio and in the mall! My friend told me she was proud of me for saying something. Believe me, the music was as bad as any music could possibly be!! ANYONE would have been compelled to say something. The lyrics were THAT bad! 

General Growth Management, Fashion Place Mall Management, PacSun Manager:

I was shopping with my family at Fashion Place Mall on Monday night. My 16-year-old teenager loves the fit and style of clothes at PacSun and I have always appreciated the great customer service from staff we receive there. 

However, on Monday night the music choice was very inappropriate for any public setting — especially a family-friendly one. The rap music seemed louder than when I’ve shopped there before so I could hear the lyrics especially well. During one song I thought I heard a swear word and chalked it up to me not hearing correctly. But the next song was as explicit as I could imagine a song being — in lyrics and subject matter. I’ll include the lyrics at the bottom of this e-mail so you can see I’m not exaggerating!

Two girls were working that evening and I nicely (motherly?) told them the music wasn’t appropriate and asked if they could change it. They explained that their music played in the store came from CD’s sent by PacSun Corporate but they said they would be happy to change CD’s and did so immediately.

(Later when checking out, I thanked the staff member for changing the music and she explained that PacSun is a California company so their standards for censoring aren’t as stringent as Utah’s. I politely told her that I had lived in California and I could assure her that most people in California would also take offense at that music being played in a mall. It just simply isn’t appropriate.)

If it was indeed a CD sent by PacSun, I’d like the manager of the store to make sure he’s aware of the music being played, and I ask that he not play the CD’s that include swearing or content inappropriate for the tweens and teens shopping at PacSun. I’ve read Fashion Place/General Growth’s Code of Content that gives “examples of specific activities that are prohibited…” “…Disruptive profanity, vulgar or threatening language” and suggest this includes the music being played in the stores. I expect Fashion Place Mall and General Growth to make sure their stores are following these guidelines in the music being played. And if you have access to PacSun’s management e-mail addresses, I would like to receive it so I can send them a copy of this e-mail as well.

Here is the chorus of the song being played while shopping at PacSun last Monday night (September 11, 2017).

The song was “Dump Dump” by A$AP Ferg: (And I can assure you it was NOT the clean version!)

It was after the first verse and into the following chorus that I was pretty sure I was hearing what I thought I was hearing and asked the girls to change the music:

I’VE DELETED THE WORDS from this e-mail in case the first e-mail I sent was blocked by your filters because of content.

You can find the lyrics online.

And that’s just the chorus!

Thank you for looking into this and making changes.