Prank You Very Much
For some, April 1st is just another day of the week. Another day they wake up at the same time, drive
the same route to work, park in the same parking space, walk up the same flight of stairs and sit at
the same desk, doing the same work they did the day before. For others, April Fool’s Day marks a day
of opportunity. A chance to cut up. And a chance for creativity.
Working at an ad agency, there’s no limit to the pranks people have pulled on each other. Some of my
favorites are wrapping a co-worker’s SUV entirely with aluminum foil, filling hundreds of cups with
water and lining them on the office floor so no one could take a step without flooding the place,
putting a piece of fish from lunch into a desk drawer only to be noticed weeks later when the stench
was unbearable and when a stuffed goat was placed at an employee’s desk and startled her so much,
you could hear the cursing all the way to the other end of the building.
It’s having fun and creating memories like this that make the hard work and long hours worthwhile.
We are a family and treat each other as such. There’s no question that having fun at work leads to a
great company culture. And having a special day of the year dedicated to such tomfoolery is most
certainly welcomed.
Here are some other advertising April Fool’s Day favorites from days gone by:
Left-Handed Whopper
In 1998, Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today. The advert announced a new
item on their menu: the Left-Handed Whopper. Especially designed for the 32 million left-handed
Americans, the new burger included the same ingredients as the original Whopper, but all the
condiments were rotated 180 degrees. Thousands of customers went into restaurants to request the
new sandwich, while many others requested their own 'right handed' version.
Taco Bell Buys The Liberty Bell
It's possible, right? Well, actually, there's not even a slim chance it could happen. The idea that a
beloved icon of American independence could be sold to a fast food chain is as ludicrous as the Eiffel
Tower being sold to Chef Boyardee. Still, some clever copywriting about Taco Bell doing it in 1996 to
reduce the national debt suckered more than a few people. Renaming it the "Taco Liberty Bell" also
ruffled a few feathers. It was complete bunk of course, but to make amends for any ill will, Taco Bell
donated $50,000 to help preserve the national treasure.
BMW’s Insect Deflector Screen
Oh, those annoying bugs. You travel at 70mph and they have the nerve to splatter on your beautiful
windshield. Well, BMW decided to use this to their advantage in 1996, with a hoax that announced
the Insect Deflector Screen or IDS. It was developed by a Munich scientist named Dr. Jurgen Afalfurit
(A-Fal-Fur-It = I Fell For It). According to the announcement, the invisible coating caused bugs to
bounce off the windshield, keeping your view splatter-free. There was even a survey that customers
could fill out, which asked the following question: "I find flies get stuck to my windscreen -- Hardly
ever; Sometimes; Far too Often."
Virgin Atlantic Advertises on Genetically Modified Butterflies
If you can grow an ear on a mouse, why not take the premise one step further? Richard Branson's
Virgin Atlantic did just that in 2002. Citing a study published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, it
was revealed that Dr. Antonia Montiero could genetically modify a butterfly to become an advertising
vessel. The new breed would enable companies to put logos on the butterfly wings with laser beams.
From the release: "Virgin is confident that butterfly advertising will become a successful and popular
new medium for airlines… Virgin executives say they hope to launch the butterfly program by the spring,
allowing time for final testing and lasering of the Virgin logo on the butterflies. Virgin hopes to be able
to control the flight areas of the butterflies, keeping them within major park and recreational areas, but
is still working out specific details."
Swiss Spaghetti Harvest Prank
In 1957, the BBC pulled a prank, known as the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest prank, where they broadcast
a fake film of Swiss farmers picking freshly-grown spaghetti. The BBC were later flooded with
requests to purchase a spaghetti plant, forcing them to declare the film a prank on the news the next
day.