April Fool’s Day Inspires Tall Tales & Trickery
Legend has it that April Fool’s Day originated after France switched to the Gregorian calendar, moving “New Year’s Day” to January 1. Those who didn’t know or follow the change continued to celebrate on April 1 and were dubbed April Fools…
A perfect opportunity evolved for pranksters – plus companies and media – across centuries and countries. Required reading is a visit to: http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/P10/ which posts the top 100 April Fool’s hoaxes of all time, judged by notoriety, creativity, and number of people duped. I guarantee this will entertain and put you on a creative, mischievous wave length.
These highlight sensational PR gimmicks:
My Favorite: Be Sure to View the Videos!
2008: Flying Penguins
The respected BBC announced that camera crews filming in the Antarctic had captured footage of Adélie penguins taking to the air including a video clip which became one of the most viewed videos on the Internet. “Instead of huddling together to endure the Antarctic winter, these penguins fly thousands of miles to the South American rainforests to winter basking in the tropical sun.” A follow-up video explained how the BBC created the special effects.
1934: Man Flies By Own Lung Power
The New York Times printed a photograph and description of a man flying by means of a device powered only by his lungs – a miraculous new invention. The man blew into a box which activated rotors that lifted him aloft. Skis served as landing gear, and a tail fin allowed him to steer. Hearst’s International News Photo agency fell for the hoax and distributed it to all subscribers.
1989: UFO Lands in London
On March 31, thousands of motorists outside London looked up in the air to see a glowing flying saucer descending on their city and watched it land. Calls to the police warned of an alien invasion. When a door in the craft popped open, and a small, silver-suited figure emerged, it was learned that the saucer was a hot-air balloon built to look like a UFO. It was the work of Richard Branson, 36-year-old chairman of Virgin Records, who had combined his passion for ballooning with his love of pranks.
1992: Nixon for President… again
National Public Radio announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again with the slogan, “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again” – accompanied by his candidacy speech, which was impersonated by comedian Rich Little. Listeners responded viscerally, flooding the show with calls of shock and outrage.
1994: Drunk Driving on the Internet
PC Computing magazine described a bill in Congress that would make it illegal to use the internet while drunk, or to discuss sexual matters over a public network. The bill was numbered 040194 and the contact person was Lirpa Sloof (April Fools backwards). The article said the FBI was going to use the bill to tap the phone line of anyone who “uses or abuses alcohol” while accessing the internet. Passage of the bill was felt to be certain because “Congress thinks being drunk on a highway is bad no matter what kind of (information) highway it is.” The article generated so many outraged phone calls to Congress that Senator Edward Kennedy’s office had to release an official denial of the rumor that he was a sponsor of the bill.
1996: The Taco Liberty Bell
Taco Bell Corporation announced it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens expressed anger until Taco Bell revealed it was all a practical joke. When White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale, he glibly responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.
1998: The Left-Handed Whopper
Burger King published a full page ad in USA Today announcing the new “Left-Handed Whopper,” specially designed for America’s 32 million left-handers. The new Whopper included the same ingredients as the original but with all condiments rotated 180 degrees for left-handed customers. Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had requested the new sandwich while many others requested their traditional ‘right handed’ version.
1957: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
The BBC announced that thanks to a mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. Footage showed farmers pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers called wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree, to which the BBC replied, “place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”
Please share your best April Fool’s story to add to our blog – either as the “duper” or the “dupee.” The most original will win a new 50” flat screen TV for the NCAA championship game on Mon., April 4.
BTW, all insider information pegs UCONN (my alma mater) as the winner! And that’s no April Fool’s Joke.
As design director at Cookerly, Tim serves as the creative lead in the development of branding campaigns, print collateral and digital media for clients across a broad range of industries, including consumer, professional services, healthcare and technology.
As senior vice president at Cookerly, Mike Rieman specializes in building and maintaining relationships with the media and has an excellent track record of landing significant placements in print and broadcast media including USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Money Magazine.
As vice president of Cookerly, Sheryl Sellaway uses her extensive corporate communications background to lead consumer PR efforts, deliver strategy for marketing programs and share expertise about community initiatives.
As a senior vice president at Cookerly, Matt helps organizations protect and advance their reputations and bottom lines through strategic communications programs. Using creativity, planning and flawless execution, he works with a team to deliver compelling public relations campaigns that produce results and support clients’ business objectives.
Everyone has their special collections – stamps, shot glasses, or post cards. But for a former co-worker bobble heads were his life. With an extensive collection of those little wiggly headed statues, you could definitely say these were his most prized possessions, and everyone in the office knew it. He came in two days before starting his new job to arrange them around his office. All of us, and especially visitors to the office, would stare in wonder and amusement with this meticulously organized and very unique collection!
When April 1st rolled around—we couldn’t miss an opportunity to pull a prank involving these infamous bobble heads. We decided to post an advertisement on Craigslist telling people that this bobble head collection was up for grabs, and most importantly, it was FREE! Of course, we included his direct line as the best way to reach him! Before he could even sit down at his desk, his phone began ringing off the hook, but he had no idea they were “for sale”. Luckily, he had a great sense of humor and thought this was one of the all-time greatest pranks!
That’s a great idea and could apply that idea to some other posessions – it has me plotting…
Jane, I’m going to be on the lookout for you tomorrow!
April fools has always been one of my favorite days because my incredible mother was born on April 1, 1923! That particular April fools day also happened to be Easter Sunday so my mother always believed she was specially blessed (she is, she had me for a daughter, ha!). Now that is the ultimate April fools prank!
The offer of drinks at dusty’s is not an April fool’s joke.
Even Google got in on the fun!
http://www.gmail.com/motion