Man Pranks Gas Station with Giant Advertising Photo of Himself
Author and motivational speaker Kyle Scheele recently used his Photoshop skills and creativity to pull off a humorous prank on a gas station convenience store.
“Man, I don’t even know where that stuff comes from,” the employee told Scheele. “It just shows up. Vendors bring it and then it just disappears one day. […] Corporate handles all of that.”
Upon learning this, Scheele immediately saw an opportunity for a prank.
“As soon as he said that, I immediately knew, ‘I’m going to make a cardboard cutout of myself and then I’m going to put it inside a gas station’,” Scheele says.
The first step was visiting a photographer friend’s studio for a portrait shoot featuring a pizza guitar.
“I figured the more official this looks the less likely they’ll be to take it down,” Scheele says, “so I decided to add a dramatic backdrop.”
And to complete the look of the “ad,” he added text that reads: THE KYLE SCHEELE MEAL.
Another of Scheele’s friends works at a business that has a huge printer, so Scheele asked for a favor and had a giant print made. The portrait was scaled to be life-size, so the whole advertisement ended up being quite tall.
The advertisement was too big to fit in Scheele’s truck bed, so he had to rent a U-Haul to transport it to the unsuspecting Kum & Go gas station convenience store.
No one batted an eye during the installation of the new “advertisement.” Another customer held the door open for Scheele as he walked in, and a cashier thanked him for dropping it off.
Customers entering the store are now greeted right away by a gigantic advertisement that looks right at home.
Scheele’s prank video has over 10 million views on TikTok now, and even Kum & Go has given its stamp of approval for the lighthearted prank.
The Adobe and Photoshop TikTok accounts also joined in on the joke.
You can watch Scheele’s full behind-the-scenes of this prank in this 3-minute video:
@kylescheele Some friends try to get you into an MLM, I try to get you into an RHC (reverse heist crew) #heist #cardboardcutout ♬ original sound – kylescheele
You can find more of Scheele’s work on his website and TikTok.
Update on 1/3/22: Scheele has admitted that this stunt was actually pulled in collaboration with Kum & Go, so while the store’s employees and customers were indeed pranked by the giant photo, it was an idea for a viral marketing campaign.
Image credits: Video and still frames by Kyle Scheele and used with permission
