Some department stores and supermarkets have inserted in their music and tracks the messages "Don't shoplift," or "Don't steal." Studies have shown that stores that use
this device have a lower rate of shoplifting than comparable stores that do not use it. Is it ethical for stores to use subliminal messages to prevent shoplifting?
Notes
Case study from the 1995 Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. Copyright, Robert Ladenson, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology, 1995.
