Unexpected voice in bagging area? Tesco hunt goes viral

Tesco might just have bitten off more than it can chew after launching a TikTok campaign to find a customer to be the “voice of the checkout” attracting more than 14 million views.

The competition, devised by agency BBH, was announced on Tesco’s TikTok page earlier this week in the supermarket’s first post on the social media platform.

In the video, a filtered face on a self-checkout screen explains how to enter. It states: “Audition to become the new voice of Tesco checkouts by duetting with me & including #TescoVoiceOfCheckout. You could win 10,000 Clubcard points.”

As part of the duet, the face asks a series of five questions such as “why do you think you’ve got what it takes” and “what noise do I make when you scan something” – leaving space for entrants to fill in the gaps with their own sound effects and comments.

The performance and deliverance of such lines like “Clubcard accepted” and “unexpected item in the bagging area” will be collated and analysed by Tesco to choose a winner.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “Giving customers the chance to become the voice of our checkouts and £100 of Clubcard points feels like a great balance of helpful, rewarding, fun and engaging content. We can’t wait to see how creative our customers get!”

According to the competition rules, the entries will be judged by how well they demonstrate clarity (35%), enthusiasm (25%), expressiveness (20%) and fun (20%).

Despite the huge number of views, it is not known how many customers have entered the competition, which closes on October 5.

The move comes as the supermarket giant is planning to expand the number of self-service checkouts and is even considering biometric payment methods – including face and palm recognition.

The move triggered some reports that the retailer will eventually move away from cash and card payments, although given the nature of the tech it will be unavailable for many – especially the elderly – so this seems unlikely.