Naked people don’t help you sell athletic wear.
A sportswear store in New Zealand is apologizing after hackers apparently hijacked its public-facing promotional screens to broadcast pornography in Auckland’s busy shopping district.
The incident happened at Asics, a Japanese-owned retailer, on Auckland’s Queen Street early Sunday morning. The video aired on a screen above the store’s sign between 1 a.m. and 10 a.m., witnesses told the New Zealand Herald.
The video played until employees showed up to open the store that morning.
“An unknown person gained access to the screens above our Central Auckland store and some objectionable content was displayed on the screens,” Asics wrote on its New Zealand Facebook page.
Dwayne Hinagano, a security guard who works in the shopping district, told the Herald that he saw the video playing for nearly two hours.
“It’s not something anyone who comes to Queen Street early on Sunday morning would expect,” Hinagano said.
Witness Tanya Lee said she was appalled to see the porn on Sunday morning as she and her seven-year-old daughter passed the shop en route to breakfast.
“I took a second look because I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” she told the Herald. She described the video as “inappropriate and offensive,” adding that it’s also “embarrassing” to see it aired in a neighbourhood that’s popular with tourists.
The store manager later said he is “100 per cent sure” that his employees were not responsible for the explicit video.
Asics has vowed to upgrade its software to prevent such hacks from occurring in the future.
Police told Reuters on Sunday that no criminal complaint has been filed in connection with the incident. No further details about the nature of the video have been released.
The security guard who witnessed the incident said reaction was mixed on the street.
“Some people were shocked,” Hinagano said. “But others just watched.”
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