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Tactics for Effective Protest
Tactic 1: walk out of the shop, leaving baskets and trolleys of shopping behind with a note saying “Would have bought all this but the muzak has driven me away!" The store then loses revenue, and has the inconvenience of having to replace the abandoned goods.
Tactic 2: use the Customer Complaint Forms on this site. Form 1, Form 2, Form 3, Form 4, Form 5, Form 6
Tactic 3: save up your till receipts from a quiet shop and send them to the central branch of a rival shop - making the point that they would have had your money but for the muzak.
Tactic 4: if you do nothing else, join Pipedown (information on links page). This organisation will provide ideas and support and will campaign on our behalf.
Tactic 5: you can download software from the Avery web site that allows you to print onto Avery sticky labels. You can also purchase sheets of labels that can be used with your printer. Just fill in the appropriate template with your message - Complain About the Piped Music, say - and print the labels. These can be used in your car windows or anywhere you desire to make a complaint. You can also print onto plain paper and just cut out the non-sticky labels.
Tactic 6: Disability Discrimination Act: This law covers all kinds of disability, for instance people with autism or poor eyesight, or a hearing impairment. The implication is that organisations and businesses are required to think about keeping background noise down, or using bigger type on signs to make them more readable, or to consider the needs of other disabled people. The employer has to make adjustments, by law, for the disabled person. If you are an employee, for example, you might try to get your employer to agree that you are covered by this act since you cannot tolerate music of any kind at work. Your problem may be that you have a phobia about muzak or that it is making you stressed or depressed (this might be covered by the mental health section of the Act), or you are hearing impaired and muzak therefore creates an aversive workplace and reduces your productivity and performance considerably. It might be that you would have a case for compensation. If muzak is installed in your workplace and you have to leave, clearly stating that you were forced to leave because you were unable to tolerate the muzak, this would be Constructive Dismissal and the employer could be liable for compensation.
In this situation you should, either through your union or in some other way (e.g., through a local Citizens' Advice Bureau), obtain legal advice on whether the harmful effects you have suffered could be the subject of a claim for damages. You will probably need to see a doctor; but a legal adviser could guide you. After all, claims have been successfully made about passive smoking, which involves a similar principle. A solicitor may be willing to take your claim on a 'no-win, no fee' basis. You will need to get medical evidence that you were made ill by the unwanted music and that your employers knew of the trouble that it was creating for you. Write to your MP about the muzak in the workplace issue.
Tactic 7: insert the above information into a flyer template in your word processor, print it out, make copies, and distribute it to staff in shops, hospitals, etc., where piped music is played.
Tactic 8: canvass support to write letters to a swimming pool, gym, shop, GP surgery, restaurant, hotel, etc. - you might write these (different) letters for individuals to sign. Letters are much more effective than petitions.
Tactic 9: use the customer complaint card at www.radiocraft.co.uk/wotaracket/index.shtml
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