shopdropping
nounUK /ˈʃɒpˌdɹɒpɪŋ/ · US /ˈʃɑpˌdɹɑpɪŋ/
Etymology From shop + dropping, modelled on shoplifting.
1
Art, Arts Often The covert placing of items in retail stores as a form of advertising, countercultural performance art, protest, etc.
- This is the season of frenetic shopping, but for a devious few people it's also the season of spirited shopdropping. Otherwise known as reverse shoplifting, shopdropping involves surreptitiously putting things in stores, rather than illegally taking them out, and the motivations vary.2007 December 24, Ian Urbina, “Anarchists in the aisles? Stores provide a stage”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Apr 2023:
- Related terms
- shopdropper