DES MOINES, IA: TikTok star Kyle Scheele has apologized for not being honest about how Kum & Go’s Kyle Scheele Meale campaign came about.
In a viral TikTok video posted by Scheele earlier this month, he makes it look like he created a massive cutout of himself advertising a fake “Kyle Scheele Meal” and placed it in a local Kum & Go store, without the store being in on the gag. The prank eventually leads to the creation of a real Kyle Scheele Meale sold by the chain.
However, Kum & Go director of brand marketing Matt Riezman told PRWeek that the convenience store was in on it all along.
After finding out the truth, and that Scheele had not been transparent, social media users said they felt “duped” by Kum & Go and Scheele.
In a TikTok video posted on Monday night, Scheele, a Springfield, Missouri, author and motivational speaker, said, “I messed up and I’m sorry.”
@kylescheele #ad An update on the Kyle Scheele Meale, with an overdue apology. #sponsored @kumandgo @redbullusa ♬ original sound - kylescheele
He went on to explain that it is not true that Kum & Go planned an elaborate corporate marketing stunt and then just hired him to pull it off. What happened, Scheele said, is that Kum & Go reached out to him, he came up with the idea to have his own influencer meal and the chain told him to “go make something fun” and “run wild.”
“But even though they didn’t plan it or orchestrate it, they did know about it,” said Scheele. “And in retrospect, I should have been upfront and told you that. That was a mistake and I am sorry.”
Scheele added that his “prank” video didn’t go viral because of Kum & Go.
“They didn’t pay to boost this video or hire a PR firm,” he said. “They just let the idea be its own thing.”
Scheele ended the video by stating that he messed up in how he made the story happen because he “wasn’t honest” with how he told it.
“When I work with companies in the future I will do better,” he said.
Kum & Go operates 400 stores in 11 states.
