Although the dance contest seemed like a fun event, the prizes were a bit bizarre. In addition to people getting the chance to win an Echo8, Echo Auto, and a cash prize through a Visa gift card, employees were also offered the delightful chance to get “10 additional labor hours to use during Black Friday week.”
The dance contest announcement was released on GameStop Conference, which is their website that lists several different awards. This contest was called the “Incisiv TikTok Dance Challenge.” Store managers around the United States were asked to film themselves and their employees dancing in order to qualify for the prizes.
The language used to describe the prize was vague. Since the contest was launched, GameStop has failed to clarify what they meant by “10 additional labor hours to use during Black Friday week.” Apparently, this might be a good thing for an employee, although it certainly does not sound like a good thing to anyone.
“They’re literally making the working-class dance for the right to put food on the table,” one user wrote. “This is an ultimate new low.”
“This is absolutely appalling,” another user tweeted. “You want your employees to advertise for you for the privilege to work more hours for you? GameStop can’t die soon enough.”
GameStop has been ignoring the health and wellbeing of its employees throughout 2020. When the United States announced that it was going to be closing down the economy in response to the coronavirus pandemic, GameStop found a loophole by declaring itself an essential business. This meant that their employees needed to continue to work amid dangerous conditions. Although GameStop eventually closed all stores after much criticism for the selfish policy, the lives of employees were still put on the line for profit.
Now it looks like they’re challenging employees to put themselves on TikTok – and potentially embarrass themselves – for the privilege to work more hours during the busiest shopping time of the year.
GameStop launched their latest promotion with a YouTube video by the events team. In the video, the group of four GameStop employees shows the store managers what they expect all employees to do on the Chinese-created TikTok app.
Because GameStop wants to engage more customers on the video app, they gave their employees a chance to compete for prizes so long as they get their dance choreographed and upload a video of it to the social media platform in time for the contest deadline. However, people are not happy that GameStop apparently wants them to work more hours if they perform a good dance.
What do you think about the GameStop morale booster?