Target customers in California got more than they bargained for while shopping at one of the retailer’s San Francisco-area stores last week: free porn, to be precise.
Shoppers told local media outlets that the public address system at a Target store in Campbell, CA broadcasted pornograhic noises for roughly 15 minutes last Friday morning.
Video footage captured by customers caught off guard by the sounds of women moaning while shopping for housewares has since spread across the Internet.
“People were up in arms. Some people threw [their] things down and walked out. Others were yelling at employees. Lots of people taking videos,” shopper Gina Young wrote on Facebook.
Ms. Young uploaded a video showing her shopping excursion being interrupted by the crude sounds with two small children in tow.
“What is going on at Target right now?” she’s heard saying in the clip.
“People offered to help me cover my twins[’] ears,” Ms. Young wrote. “Employees were running around everywhere. Picking and hanging up phones, which worked….for about two minutes before it started up again.”
“People were screaming at employees, video taping, some laughing some disgusted. It was terribly awkward,” she said.
“I always wanted to have a video to viral, but not exactly like this,” wrote Ms. Young, who said that the video clip she posted on Facebook had received upwards of 1,000 views in only half an hour’s time.
It’s since been watched more than 125,000 times.
Other shoppers were much more turned off by the experience, to say the least.
“I felt violated,” customer Chris Minor told KPIX. “My body said, ’Wait a minute. This ain’t right.’ So I was uneasy.”
“It was appalling and despicable. It just left you with an icky feeling,” he added to the Star Tribune. “The employees just scattered around. They didn’t know how to turn it off.”
Mr. Minor told KPIX News that he thought at first that the sounds may have been part of a Halloween promotion or employee prank, but quickly became “very uncomfortable” by what he heard over the PA.
“I was taken aback, very frustrated, and appalled, and angered by what I heard,” he told the network.
“We are actively reviewing the situation with the team to better understand what happened and to help ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder told the Star Tribune. “Because this is an active investigation, I’m unable to share additional details, but we want our guests to know that we take this very seriously.”
Nevertheless, the mishap is not the first of its kind—not even for Target. A similar incident made headlines after unfolding a Target location in San Luis Obispo back in July.
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