April Fools day is revered throughout the country by leg pullers and practical jokesters alike. How we continue to get bamboozled year after year on April 1st, we’ll never know. We do know, however, that if there is a chain to be yanked, yanked it shall be. Our PR agency loves to see brands and companies across verticals – consumer, tech, food, entertainment and everything in between – get in on the shenanigans. Check out our list of the kings and fools of April 1, 2022.
Kings:
Work Hard, Play Hard with Little Tikes – Turn your home office into a co-working space with Little Tikes new “My First Cubicle”, for the hard-working toddlers of the world. While the miniature office design, complete with roller chair and inspirational cat poster, was built for the sake of ”tike” foolery, Little Tikes did leave the door open for the set to become a real addition to their product line by leaving a survey to gauge consumer interest. Some might call this approach to April fools day a “think prank”.
The New Yorker’s Ode to April Fool’s From Your Favorite Tech Company – Brands aren’t the only masterminds behind April Fool’s campaigns. Our PR agency loved media darling The New Yorker’s faux prose from sham tech company Wevvy, poking fun at the various tech-enabled products that fill our homes. Read the piece to see if you can figure out who they’re really drawing inspiration from!
ALDI Findr – If the way into someone’s heart is indeed through their stomach, Aldi’s gag dating app actually seems like a perfect way to meet the love of your life. The grocery store teased their lonely shoppers with the “launch” of ALDI FINDR, a dating app that matches singles up based on their shopping cart purchases. While most saw through the April Fools day prank, a large number of commenters on Aldi’s post showed a lot of excitement and interest in the concept, probably hoping to experience a modernized “produce aisle meet cute” trope that claimed rom-coms of the past. Based on the positive reception, Aldi might do well to take this prank to the bank and give the people what they want: a snack mate for life.
Krispy Kreme Eau de Glaze Parfum – Krispy Kreme takes the cake (or donut?) with this one. The popular donut company and coffeehouse chain posted an original perfume, “Eau de Glaze” that smells of the original glazed donut from the company, on Instagram with a call to action directing people to the link in their bio. Of course, the link leads to a page that lets you know it’s an April Fool’s joke but reminds the reader that if you’re craving the smell so much – head to your nearest Krispy Kreme. It was funny, clever, inoffensive and actually pretty believable.
Nite Ize Mini Mini Safety Necklace – Nite Ize is a company known for creating innovative products that organize your life, protect your gear, light your way, and solve everyday problems. Today, they announced NiteHowl Mini Mini necklace (picture the glow sticks you used to get at middle school dances), an LED necklace that helps you keep track of your “mischievous gerbils, brazen fish, fearless lizards” and any other tiny critters that like to get lost in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, the product is currently sold out but there are really adorable photos of tiny creatures like hamsters and clownfish wearing them that’s worth the visit to the site.
Fools:
Hellmann's and Butterfinger’s Sweet and Savory Mayonnaise – Who doesn’t love a little savory and sweet combo? We all have – but perhaps mayonnaise and butterfingers don’t quite get along the way pretzels and chocolate does. We get the idea, Hellmann’s, but you might have committed a little too much to the joke. It was the cake recipe that really pushed us over the edge (but also if you tried it, let us know. We’re curious).
Ipsy x Glamnetic Pet Makeup – Beauty subscription box purveyor Ipsy and magnetic lash brand Glamnetic teamed up for April Fool’s Day to launch a new line of faux eyelashes for our favorite four-legged friends. From a PR perspective, it felt slightly in poor taste as many beauty companies have come under fire for testing on animals. And not to mention, our pets are perfect just the way they are.
Twitter: GIVE US THE EDIT BUTTON – Perhaps we took this one a little personally, having had to delete entire tweets due to using the inappropriate form of to, too, and two. It’s incredibly tedious and would be oh so fixable if Twitter would just supply a simple, tiny, little edit button. Which is exactly what they said they were working on in a tweet this past Friday. Unfortunately for grammar and spelling sticklers on Twitter, it was tweeted on April Fools day without the promise of it ever coming to fruition.
JetBlue From JFK to LaGuardia in the Sky – If you’ve ever sat in New York traffic, you know that this is a cruel joke. That is all.
What April Fool’s campaign was your favorite?
– Holly Rust, Account Associate