California Target plays porn over loudspeakers shocking shoppers

Shoppers at a Target store in San Jose, California were shocked when they were bombarded with a sexually explicit recording over the store's loudspeaker. Shoppers claimed the store apologised for the recording over the public address system, before the explicit material started up again.

According to CBS San Francisco, the retail giant released a statement, saying it was "actively reviewing the situation with the team to better understand what happened, and to help ensure this doesn't happen again." Chris Minor, a shopper who recorded the incident and reactions from other shoppers, told reporters that the store's manger also apologised personally to him.

"I felt violated, and my body said wait a minute, this ain't right. So I was uneasy," he said. "I thought it may have been Halloween related, maybe an employee playing games, but this was rated-X material, which made me feel very uncomfortable. I was taken aback, very frustrated, and appalled, and angered by what I heard," Minor said to KPIX5.

Another shopper, Gina Young was at the store with her children when the pornographic audio track began playing. Young quickly began videotaping the incident and later posted it on Facebook, where it went viral.

"This happened today at Target in Campbell, CA. Porn blasting over the intercom throughout the store," she wrote. "People offered to help me cover my twins' ears. Others threw their stuff down and walked out. Employees were running around everywhere. Picking and hanging up phones, which worked...for about two minutes before it started up again."

Young confirmed Minor's story that a manager apologised, but said the audio continued for over 15 minutes before the store's employees could figure out how to turn it off, USA Today reported.

The San Jose Mercury News reported that a similar incident occurred earlier this year at a Target in San Luis Obispo. Police there called on 10 July at 11.30am after a Target story reported an audio track of pornography was playing over the store's PA system.