Electronics retailer GameStop has had a rough year. On the one hand, lockdown orders due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has affected physical game sales, and the company garnered bad press trying to argue for its status as an essential workplace despite seemingly not providing enough health and safety protections. Now, GameStop is once again receiving criticism for hosting a TikTok dance challenge with one prize being extra labor hours.
The challenge, sponsored by "consumer industry insights firm" Incisiv, was posted to GameStop's corporate website in the "Fun & Games" section for its 2020 virtual conference. It asks Store Leaders to "rope in your team" and perform a specific dance provided in a separate YouTube video before November 4, after which GameStop employees can vote on November 5 for a winner to be announced the next day.
Most of the prizes listed for this challenge are straightforward, including an Amazon Echo Show 8, an Amazon Echo Auto, and a $100 Visa gift card. However, also included is "10 additional labor hours to use during Black Friday week," which employees will still have to work despite GameStop closing for Thanksgiving this year. Many on social media and forums such as Resetera have criticized the store chain for potentially hiding extra payroll hours that employees may need during a busy time behind a dance challenge, especially amid the ongoing pandemic.
Some have also taken issue with GameStop's wording on the page discussing this challenge, which asks participants to, "Imagine what you could do with all those prizes!" This is not the only event listed on the "Fun & Games page," as there is also an Xbox Series X giveaway for the store that can make the best "Xbox Shrine," an opportunity to win a digital copy of Watch Dogs Legion for five Store Leaders in each district whose locations sell the most copies, and more. However, the TikTok competition has drawn the most attention.
GameStop reported a "massive" loss in the second quarter of 2020, resulting partially from and contributing to hundreds of store closures across the country. However, in October GameStop announced a multi-year deal with Microsoft just before the launch of the Xbox Series X/S that will provide retail stores new technology. This led to a rise in the company's stock.
As of this writing GameStop has not responded to backlash against its TikTok competition, and it is unclear whether that will have an effect on its seeming upturn. For now, it remains just one more notch in a bad year for GameStop, which also accidentally gave away its products due to an online storefront glitch last month.