No One Wants To Shop From A Music Video

No One Wants To Shop From A Music Video


Canadian retailer SSSense has developed a shoppable music video in hopes that watching cool people flaunt couture will inspire you to impulse buy a bunch of crap you don’t want and can’t afford. The song is not terrible! But the shopping experience is noisy and totally ruins the video. Nobody who likes music actually wants this. Can we please make it go away?

The new video for “I Think She Ready” by rapper Iggy Azalea and featuring FKI and Diplo, is basically a catalogue, which uses interactive technology developed by wireMAX to sell you clothing. On the surface the video is what you’re used to: A bunch of well-dressed musicians dancing around, looking cool, wearing fancy clothes. But in almost every frame, there’s an “S” button hovering over each of the artists. When your mouse hovers over the button, that box expands to say “Shop This Look”, and when you click, the video pauses and reveals an online shopping interface so you can purchase what you saw in the video.

It’s a disgustingly efficient synergy of marketing techniques. Music videos have always been advertisements of sorts for the music itself, and musicians have endorsed clothing for time eternal. But the experience of shopping from a music video feels dirty. You can’t enjoy the music and shop at the same time. Plus even if you don’t click on those hovering “S” tiles, they remain as distracting reminders that if you enjoy the video, you’re basically getting a kick out of a commercial.

Listen: We understand that the recording industry is collapsing and that its future is merchandising and using musical cachet to hock wears. But seriously, can we just watch music videos without having to confront the crass consumerism of it all the entire time? [SSSENSE via Hypebeast]