Here’s The Tea On Chagee Malaysia’s Contest Controversy
Prizes included designer handbags and Apple such as a Macbook, Apple Watch, and an iPhone.
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Malaysia is home to dozens of premium tea brands, ranging from local tea houses to international chains found in malls, offices, and even petrol stations.
Recently, Chinese tea chain Chagee has gotten itself into hot water after a staff was caught on camera, allegedly rigging a contest they ran over the weekend (16 – 17 November).
For context, the contest was to celebrate their 7th year anniversary by offering random giveaway prizes for every purchase of any selected cup of tea on their menu.
In their ‘Tear & Win’ contest, all customers had to do was purchase a drink from their menu that comes in a special cup and tear the perforated section on the lower half of the cup to find a small paper stub with the random prize printed on it. Customers can then claim the prize from Chagee directly.
Some of the prizes are nothing to scoff at either, with designer handbags, Apple devices including a Macbook, Apple Watch, and an iPhone all up for grabs.
Viral video sparks criticism over alleged contest rigging
A video that went viral on X (formerly Twitter) by user naquib, which was taken down but reuploaded by other X users, shows a Chagee staff member at an undisclosed Chagee outlet “checking” the special cups to identify what’s printed on the small paper tabs inside.
As explained before, the prize tabs can only be accessed after tearing through the perforation in the bottom half of the cup, so how did the employee manage to check them without compromising the cup?
The cup is actually two cups, with a smaller one placed in a larger one and you can access the section where the prize tab is just by lifting the smaller cup out!
Check out the video here.
In the video, the staff member appears to be sorting the cups out as well, presumably by the types of prizes contained in them.
After she was done sorting them, she proceeded to carry all the ones she sorted to the back of the outlet, for intentions unclear to us and viewers of the video.
Netizens chime in with their theories
Many users on X who watched the video were triggered by this suspicious activity carried out by the Chagee employee.
Some of them even admitted to have participated in the ‘Tear & Win’ event and shared the frustrating experience they faced when they had to wait in line for hours just to get their cup of Chagee.
One X user also theorised that influencers who participated in the event seemed to have won all the high-value prizes, while the every day customer only has only gotten the lower-tier gifts.
Another user speculated that the staff kept the prize tabs to be given away to family members, friends, and other acquaintances.
Chagee threatened legal action on the original video poster
After the first video was uploaded by X user naquib, he was approached by Chagee who ordered him to remove the video or face legal action if he refused to.
He then posted a screenshot of the conversation with the caption “Chagee has replied. I have to delete the video or they will take legal action”.
Other X users had something to say about this too, particulary regarding Chagee’s use of ‘ya’ at the end of their sentence saying they will take legal action.
Some find that the tone is used in an intimidating manner, which netizens think is not the right way to address an issue caused by the brand itself.
In their tweet where they asked for the video to be taken down, Chagee had also acknowledged that they do not encourage any action in the video and that action had been taken against the staff involved.
Chagee asked for the video to be removed as it “involved one of our staff’s privacy”.
Hi, we’re requesting to delete as it involves one of our staff’s privacy ya.
— CHAGEE (@my_chagee) November 18, 2024
We truly appreciate every feedbacks for us to improve and of course, we do not encourage any of the actions in the video. We also have taken necessary actions to the relevant staff 🙏🏻
The company could very well be the Employer of the Century for standing up on behalf of their staff who had seemingly committed a wrongdoing.
At the time of writing, Chagee Malaysia has yet to spill the tea with an official response regarding the matter.
What do you think was happening in the video? Just a staff member doing her job? Or was it sus?
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