# Putting uninvited objects on store shelves; crime? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470 "2019-12-06T16:06:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470/41 "2019-12-12T13:09:09Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Placing foodstuffs on a shelf would get attention very quickly, due to various poisoning episodes over the years. Expect some very pointed questions. Agreed, if it was a clear joke, the store may very well just throw it away and never think about it again. However, food tampering is a big deal. I don’t know what happened after the dust settled, but a while back when people were licking ice cream, at least some of them were looking at jail time and huge fines. In my store, I had to kick someone out because she was opening all our deli containers, smelling them and putting them back in the cooler. She simply couldn’t wrap her head around why that was a problem. Looking back, maybe she had some issues though. I mean, I’d catch her doing it, I’d tell her to stop, she’d argue with me and I’d ask her to leave the store. Then a few days later, she’d be back doing it again. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470/42 "2019-12-12T13:59:15Z")
Sounds like [this scene](https://youtu.be/38m-wnbHPLA?t=13) from _Tampopo_. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470/43 "2019-12-12T15:14:25Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > It may be theft of services. That shelf space cost money and is a limited resource and the owner uses it and the business he established to sell his stuff to people as he sees fit. You put your stuff there, and even though you won’t make any money, you may gain listeners, to which you have deprived the shop owner of charging you for that service and to sell his wares in that spot. As such you are stealing advertising/display space. I would think that intent or purpose would be the main determiner. If the action was in any way designed (or would have the obvious effect) of disrupting the store’s business any significant amount, then the charge would be the catch-all of “public mischief”. Things that would make customers disgusted, things that would drive away customers, or otherwise put the store in a negative light… for example putting CD’s with explicit lyrics or inappropriate covers in the store, or porn books on the shelves. Moving things around could also be construed as public mischief if the effort to fix it was too expensive. Certainly anything with food and especially medicine would run afoul of public health laws and would be taken more seriously. But sneaking harmless CD’s or books into the store - I think it would be difficult to show the result is public mischief as long as the quantities were not too large. Reminds me of the photo where someone has rearranged the initialed Christmas stockings to spell a political message. The legal system would roll its eyes and say “why are you wasting my time with this?” The cost of bringing someone to trial is not trivial. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470/44 "2019-12-12T18:16:25Z")
I agree that intent is a key issue. I could place wine in a store that isn’t licensed to sell it, place expired foodstuffs, and generally create problems in a malicious way. Or…not. ---
**Author:** ![ALOHA\_HATER](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@ALOHA\_HATER](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ALOHA_HATER)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470/45 "2019-12-13T21:36:24Z")
I’m surprised we’ve gotten this far without putting a name to the practice. In ‘culture jamming’ circles this was known at least to some as **droplifting** , ie the opposite of shoplifting. I feel like I read about this in Adbusters magazine a long time ago, but more likely it was in some random blog. The article I remember also was about CDs. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2019, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470/46 "2019-12-13T21:39:31Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > There’s an artist in LA, by the name “Obvious Plant”, who’s made a career out of planting fake products on store shelves - mostly blatant knockoffs with names like “Kind of the Hill” or a doll of “NyQuil Jornan of the Choncago Balls”, and showing them off on Facebook. He hasn’t had any legal troubles that I know of, and even had a legitimate exhibition of his work last year. I love obvious plant. Such dry humour in some of the products. Examples here: [This Guy Hides Hilarious Fake Products In Real Stores](https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/this-guy-hides-hilarious-fake-products-in-real-stores-and) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470/47 "2019-12-13T22:28:11Z")
“Inception.” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470/48 "2019-12-14T21:00:18Z")
As I understand it, legally all a customer can do in a store is shop and pay. You can be kicked out, arrested, or even banned for doing anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470/49 "2019-12-15T15:48:14Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > As I understand it, legally all a customer can do in a store is shop and pay. You can be kicked out, arrested, or even banned for doing anything else. Depends, as so much in law, by jurisdiction. [California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruneyard_Shopping_Center_v._Robins), for instance, recognises a right of freedom of speech, with reasonable restrictions, on “the property of a privately owned shopping center to which the public is invited”. So a mall owner could, for instance, not kickprotesters out for distributing political pamphlets in that mall, as long as they’re behaving reasonably. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470/50 "2019-12-16T20:47:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > As I understand it, legally all a customer can do in a store is shop and pay. You can be kicked out, arrested, or even banned for doing anything else. AFAIK you can be banned for any reason (“inappropriate attire”, “noise”, etc.) as long as it is not discrimination against a protected group. This is often a difficulty with situations like strikes - the union cannot picket a store in a mall, all they can do is picket the mall entrances from the public sidewalk. Also why you cannot set up a soapbox, or distribute flyers, or anything else that the mall owners feel would disrupt their business. Except, it seems, in California. (IIRC wasn’t there even some decision that they couldn’t exclude panhandlers as long as they were not an aggressive nuisance?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-uninvited-objects-on-store-shelves-crime/844470.md?page=2)