Security guards brawl over world's biggest Apple Store Security guards from rival shopping malls in the eastern Chinese city of Dalian have been caught on camera brawling after one group took offence to a wall of giant Apple billboards hastily erected to promote the arrival of a new fruity store in the city. The new shop is reportedly set to be the largest Apple Store in the world …
Yes and no - it may be free advertising, but where are the authorities? Who is in control here?
To me, this looks like a massive loss of face for Apple, the competing shopping centre and the Chinise authorities alike.
Imagine you're an innocent tourist getting caught up in this - I wouldn't want to go near an area with competing and uncontrolled gangs (gang = "a group of 'security' people acting without any authority whatsoever").
*Not* good for anyone. What's next - getting clubbed in the street because you bought at that store? Or did I just give them an idea?
How does "interesting" to someone living in their parents' basement in Oklahoma translate into sales in that particular Chinese store? And if someone wants to flaunt around in their expensive western designer clothes and go to the Starbucks to unpack their new Apple gear, will they go to a place where scuffles are expected carried out by two large armies of guards in ill-fitting PLA-uniform knockoffs?
I'd at least hoped for turtlenecked goons.
@Marvin the Martian: "How does "interesting" to someone living in their parents' basement in Oklahoma translate into sales in that particular Chinese store?"
I don't really see the connection - my point was that the ruckus has raised the public profile of the mall and Apple Store far above what they would have achieved if the billboards had been left alone. And as far as risk/hassle is concerned - forget about it. No one will remember (or care about) a tussle that will probably be cracked down on by the authorities - but they will remember there is a store there.
It's like protestors objecting to something in a film and picketing outside - the movie might have had a very low public profile, but the protests draw attention and crowds of viewers to see what the fuss is about. The net affect of the protest is the opposite of what they intended.
Our shopping centre has, I don't know, four security guards. Mainly to help people who are lost.
Where the hell did all those chinese guards come from? Not just the ones taking down the banners, there is also a wall of guards standing shoulder to shoulder enclosing the customers. There must be hundreds of them. Bizarre.
I may be misunderstanding the situation, but it seems to me that the people who put the billboards up were well out of order, and the mall were well within their rights to take them down. They don't even look safe.
Now it is possible the security guards decided to beat up the people who had put the banners up just for the hell of it, but it seems more likely that the fight started because the rival group tried to stop them removing the banners.
Blame lays squarely with the rival mall, imho.
You didn't quite read the article, did you?
- Mall A puts up banners in its own property
- Mall B sends "security" goons to Mall A's banners
- Mall A's security lines up to protect banners
- Mall B's goons don't give a shit and tear down the banners, all gangster-style.
No tearing down for security reasons, this was squarely lawlessness showing up. I do wonder why the hell didn't Parkland Mall call the cops?
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