The origins of April Fools day or all fools day are disputed by historians due to a variety of accounts as to the origin. Despite the cloudy beginnings, this day has become a widely accepted American Tradition every April 1st. Perhaps that is because people are often looking for some fun ahead of Tax day in the U.S.
The pranks pulled on April 1st range from clever, to lame, and downright harmful. Now since we are a humor blog, we will focus more on the clever and lame to brighten your day if you wish to learn about harmful pranks on April 1st, click here.
Let me tell you a story of a clever TV company in Sweeden in 1962. SVT was one of the leading producers of televisions in the country. Now for those of you who don’t know the history of television, at this time color TV was a rarity. It had only been introduced in the United States less than 10 years before April 1962. Of course, everyone wanted to upgrade to this new technology just as much as you want to get the newest smartphone. There was a big problem though, just as with all new tech color television was expensive. Capitalizing on the graving for color TV, SVT decided to bring their expert on TV and explain how you could convert your black and white television to color. He explained that you just needed to pull a nylon stocking over your television and it would convert to color. Thousands of people did this, only to realize that not only did it not work, but even if it did the only station in Sweeden only broadcasted in Black and white.
Another Great Prank came from the Taco Bell Corporation in 1996. To reduce the debt of the United States, Taco Bell announced that they had purchased the historic Liberty Bell and were going to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. This was announced through ads in the Newspaper, it angered thousands of people who quickly wrote letters and called the National Historical Park in Philidelphia demanding that this not be allowed. Taco Bell later announced that it was all a hoax, but this one still lives on today.
Another great Fast food prank came from Burger King in 1998. They announced that they were releasing the “left-handed Whopper.” The Burger was the same except everything was rotated 180 degrees so a left-hander could enjoy it just as much as the other right-handed customers. Burger King came out the next day and announced the hoax. However, people went into Burger King asking for this Left-handed burger, and people also demanded a right-handed version.
Before the modern expanse of the internet came about, it was a little easier to prank people. Now companies need to get a little more creative to fool people even if it is only for a minute. One move is to make it small.
Back in 2009, an article was published stating that Warner Brothers was buying Pirate Bay. Pirate Bay is not a theme park but is an illegal downloading site. At Pirate Bay, you can get anything from movies to software all for free. This would have been huge, instead of fighting this site in court over copyright issues, why not buy the site and shut it down. This article played well on the internet because there were not many people out there refuting the fact. It was small enough to trick people but not big enough to warrant an immediate denial from Warner Brothers.
While this is an efficient way to prank people, would it not be nice to prank thousands again like they did before the 21st century. Virgin Airlines and Nest demonstrate a newer tactic, the professional ad. On April fools there are now many product commercials playing on the internet, one of our favorites came in 2014. Nest and Virgin Airlines announced a dream for passengers, individual control of temperature for every passenger on an airline. Now I am not talking about the air vent above your seat that is either too cold or not enough. These would be powered by the user-friendly nest controls. The reason this hoax saw so much success is because it is truly something people will want. Also, the ad looked pretty real.
Now as you are planning your revenge on the person who pranked you yesterday, remember that good hoaxes require a lot of work, so be sure to plan all year long.
Ka Moa 