Mar 29, 2023
By: Srishti Magan
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Despite conflicting origin stories, April Fool’s Day is one of the most famous holidays celebrated globally on April 1. It’s a day of playing pranks and even companies have indulged in it. Here are some April Fool’s Day pranks pulled by companies across the globe:
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Over the years, the tech giant has successfully fooled many unsuspecting users with ingenious pranks. But one of the most innovative pranks was in 2012 when it introduced a Google Nose Beta, a way to search for smells.
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In 2014, Domino’s introduced The #DominosEdibox — a pizza box that one could eat. The company dubbed it a ‘snackaging innovation’, before eventually revealing that it was little more than a prank.
Credit: Facebook
The mobile marketplace offers services at home for almost everything — including alarm services. In 2021 the platform released an ad for wake-up services where trained professionals would physically visit consumers and wake them up. It was a joke but many people felt the need for it!
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In 2018, the fast food giant Burger King introduced a chocolate whopper — burger made from all things sweet — from a chocolate cake bun to flame-grilled chocolate patty, and even raspberry syrup. It was also made of lies.
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Jägermeister, everyone’s go-to liquor for fiery shots, introduced a Jäger Balm in 2018 through an ad on YouTube. Its purpose — a healing balm to remedy “bartender’s elbow.” Of course, it was an elaborate joke.
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In 2021, Holi was on March 29, three days before April Fool’s day. Beverage brand Keventers planned ahead and launched a bhaang-flavoured milkshake — only to reveal to consumers on Apri 1 that it was all a joke.
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In the UK, beverage giant Coca-Cola teamed up with the British magazine Families to introduce a new variant, Helium Coca-Cola in 2017. The magazine released an article stating that the helium-carbonated drink gives its fans hilariously high-pitched voices — only to reveal at the end that it’s a joke.
Credit: Families
In 2017, the e-commerce giant played the perfect prank on users of Amazon’s Alexa by introducing Petlexa — a feature that allows pets to communicate with Alexa and ask for food, place orders, etc. No points for guessing, it was a hoax.
Credit: YouTube