Christmas tunes annoy shoppers
Shoppers feel they are being bombarded with the same Christmas songs over and over again, a new poll has revealed.
The survey by Immedia, which provides music solutions for retailers, also revealed the nation’s most loved and hated festive tunes.
The most hated were Mr Blobby’s Christmas in Blobbyland, Justin Bieber’s Mistletoe and David Hasselhoff’s Stille Nacht.
Favourites included Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody, Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day and Do They Know It’s Christmas from Band Aid.
But even the top tunes started to annoy shoppers if they heard them over and over, Immedia said.
Chief executive Bruno Brookes, the former Radio One DJ, said: “The problem is, at Christmas there isn’t a sound of each retailer’s brand, there is instead a generic sound of the high street. That means retailers are losing an opportunity to target shoppers with a unique sound that provides the right aural environment for them to buy.”
Immedia’s scientific adviser Vicky Willliamson said: “A number of psychological effects are likely to play a role in our reaction to Christmas songs, as revealed in the Immedia survey. Hearing Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody a few times is pleasing. Hearing it over and over could become annoying.
“Then there is the reminiscence effect, which could explain why many of the favourite songs on our top 10 list are older. We enjoy music that has positive autobiographical memory associations for us, and Christmas songs certainly fall into this category. Hearing them can trigger memories of happy times with friends and family.”
Top 10 festive tunes
1. Merry Christmas Everybody, Slade
2. I wish it could be Christmas Every Day, Wizzard
3. Do They Know It’s Christmas, Band Aid
4. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Frank Sinatra
5. Fairytale of New York, The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl
6. Last Christmas, Wham
7. Winter Wonderland, Bing Crosby
8. Driving Home for Christmas, Chris Rea
9. (Simply having) a Wonderful Christmastime, Paul McCartney
10. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, Michael Bublé
