The Foolishness of Kai Cenat, or How Not To Do a Promotional Giveaway
Look, I get it. Streamers love attention. They do.
Amouranth practically lives in a hot tub. Newcomers to Kick are driving their audience through strong word-of-mouth and community. And others just want a friend or two to follow along for the ride.
But there’s a right way to get attention and a wrong way to get attention.
Before this week, I had never heard of Kai Cenat. But apparently he’s big in the streaming space, and loves his community. Which is fine. However, when it came to what he wanted to do with his latest promotion, he didn’t think things through.
In a broadcast video that was seen on Twitch earlier this week, Cenat announced that he would pop up in Times Square in New York City, ready to give away a few PlayStation 5 systems and gift cards. He figured that a few of his followers would show up, he would simply give them the packages, and be on his way. Like Robin Hood dropping off money bags to the poor and riding off into the forest.
Good gesture. But I don’t think he understood the commotion that was waiting for him.
He offered free PlayStation 5 systems. You have no idea how many people want these, especially in this economy. So, of course, they showed up to get their chance. In droves.
Like thousands of people. They ran into Times Square and created a mob the likes of which Cenat wasn’t expecting. And when he arrived, they mobbed him. Surprise.
The city actually had to dispatch 1,000 police officers (!) to calm the scene down. Apparently some people got in fights, and it took a couple of hours just to clear the space. Eventually, they did, and Cenat was taken into custody, along with a few others for causing what they called “commotion.”
During a press conference, the police deemed it was an “unlawful assembly,” and could charge Cenat with the possibility of “inciting a riot,” among other charges. It’s not known what happened to him just yet.
But…oy. Did Cenat really not see what he was expecting from this? He told people, “Meet me here and I’ll give away PS5’s and gift cards.” Who wouldn’t want that opportunity? It reminded me of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World when normal people suddenly went into a frenzy over the opportunity of being a little bit richer.
It serves as a reminder that there’s a right way to do a giveaway and a wrong way to do a giveaway. This was clearly the wrong way, and a huge mistake on Cenat’s part. Not to mention that a thousand officers were dispatched to take care of the problem. Because of one streamer.
So what’s the right way? Based on my experience, online. You’re telling me that Cenat wouldn’t have gotten a nice little social media boost by doing a fair online giveaway, rather than simply going somewhere and throwing out PS5’s? It would’ve given him such a push — not that he really needed it, based on his numbers, but still.
Not to mention…why couldn’t he have done this for the sake of a charity? Like, create a contest where people can earn entries by donating to someone like Gamers Outreach and Extra Life? Imagine the money he could’ve driven up from such an offer, compared to the chaos he created in Times Square.
I hope this serves as a lesson that if you offer something that’s too good to be true, that’s because it usually is. There was a crowd that ended up going nuts, people getting in fights, and police put out of their way just because one streamer didn’t know how to do a giveaway.
Here’s hoping the lesson sticks the next time someone has some Xbox systems lying around.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
