Great advances in retail marketing, NOT

For years the kids kept us from even passing through Bloomingdales, for fear of being chased down by "the scary ladies with the smelly spray" who haunted the aisles.   I thought that marketing method was the nadir, with its single-minded focusing on the selected demographic to the exclusion of all others. 

But now, even that scheme has been surpassed by this. It's got MIMES!  IN BOXES!  It's got silver bodysuited actors ensnaring pedestrians on public sidewalks!  It's got body scanners flashing out your "hot and cold body spots" to all assembled!

Is there a measure for marketing effectiveness that is so far below zero that it actually causes an entire segment of the city to depopulate?  They'll probably make a holiday movie about the aftermath someday, titled "the Crickets chirping in Times Square."