Top 10 Worst April Fool's Pranks by Companies
#10: A Really Distracting Fake UFO
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Virgin Group Before billionaire Richard Branson got serious about going to space, his company decided to give civilians a taste of what might be amongst the stars. In 1989, Virgin Group made a hot air balloon look like a UFO and flew it over London. The trick was so convincing that drivers stopped and many notified the police that a potential invasion was imminent. When an officer reached the balloon, someone dressed like ET apparently greeted the official. This didn’t make the lawmen instantly laugh. According to officials, the UFO stunt wasted police resources and could’ve fostered a dangerous accident on the road where drivers stopped. The officers are probably happy Branson’s company went on to invest in space craft instead of more E.T. suits.
#9: A Hummer Giveaway Becomes A Bummer
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KBDS-FM Radio It’s pretty common for radio stations to give away big prizes for simple contests. So, a woman named Shannon Castillo believed that KBDS-FM Radio AKA Play 103.9 was giving away a Hummer. All she had to do was figure out how many miles two Hummers had traveled after a week. Once Castillo guessed an appropriate 103.9, she was brought in to receive her prize: a toy car. The pranked listener didn’t let the radio station off the hook and sued them for around $60,000. Although there’s no indication that Castillo won the lawsuit, we think the radio station learned about the potential cost of a misleading contest.
#8: Reviving a Meme Too Soon
Lucid Mattress In 2016, news spread that a gorilla named Harambe had been fatally shot after a boy fell into the animal’s enclosure. While the incident provoked a wide range of reactions, no one could’ve predicted that this tragic event would inspire a bed. A company called Lucid Mattress decided to advertise the Harambed just in time for April Fool’s day in 2017. They offered the chance to lie on a bed with realistic fur and big arms. Although this uncomfortably realistic bed had a few fans, others found it to be completely tasteless. While it was popular to make memes of Harmabe at the time, the company might’ve released this joke product too soon after the gorilla’s sad demise.
#7: Fake News About an Alien Invasion
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The Al-Ghad Newspaper A print outlet decided that aliens would make the perfect April Fool’s Day joke in 2010. So, they issued a paper with a cover story that claimed extraterrestrials landed near the town of Jafr. But people didn’t exactly get the joke. Not only were security officials sent to investigate possible visitors, but the city was nearly completely evacuated. Fortunately, the ruse was exposed before life in the town was seriously disrupted any further. The paper narrowly managed to avoid getting sued by the mayor for the big prank. After this incident, they could definitely report on how seriously people take news about aliens.
#6: A Punny & Unfunny Name Change
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Volkswagen After Volkswagen got into hot water for tricking officials into thinking certain cars met environmental standards, you’d think they’d take it easy on pranks. Yet, they attempted to win consumers over with another joke in 2021. News started spreading in March that the company would change its name from Volkswagen to Voltswagen because it was leaning into more electric cars. Soon after outlets started buzzing about this change, the company let everyone know it was a big hoax. While several journalists became outraged at the ruse, the company faced threats that an investigation might be started to see if the deceptive name change was illegal. The backlash the company faced might keep them out of the race for best prank on future April Fool’s days.
#5: Joking About the Apocalypse
Franklin Institute Science Museum Most people would at least double check Twitter if someone said the word was ending within a day. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an option for a prank that occurred pre-internet back in 1940. Public Relations agent William Castellini aimed to both celebrate April Fools’ and promote a lecture at the Franklin Institute Science Museum with a scary announcement. He gave a nearby radio station a release letting the public know the world was done for in less than 24 hours. After angry citizens and emergency services learned that it was all a hoax, Castellini took a lot of heat. While the world didn’t end that day, the pr agent’s job at the Franklin Institute was soon terminated.
#4: Making Rick Rolling Popular
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YouTube If you haven’t been tricked into watching “Never Gonna Give You Up” when scrolling through videos, you must be one of the luckiest people alive. This undying internet trend pulls viewers in with a fake title or video description before hitting them with this Rick Astley classic. One of the reasons this prank became so commonplace was because of YouTube. In April 2008, the site tricked users into watching “Never Gonna Give You Up” by putting bogus video links on the homepage. Although the joke was funny for a moment, it got obnoxious and old pretty quickly. We might never be safe from Rick Astley’s signature track thanks one YouTube prank.
#3: A Twisted & False Vote
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Greater Manchester Police Department of Radcliffe While there are many reasons an inmate can be released from prison early, the process doesn’t often come down to a public vote. One police department probably knew that when they made a dark April Fool’s joke. A tweet from their office claimed that whichever one of their prisoners got a large amount of votes could walk out of jail sooner and get a generous stipend as they left. Outraged families of victims were quick to point out that the department shouldn’t have made jokes about releasing potentially violent offenders just because of an internet poll. And we’re betting prisoners wouldn’t have seen the humor in it either. This tasteless poll clearly wasn’t the best way for this police department to connect with anyone.
#2: A Horrible Article
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Playboy Romania An offshoot Romanian branch of the popular risqué magazine found themselves blasted with criticism on all sides because of an absolutely despicable move. The office published an article where they described how a person could mistreat their spouse and hide the evidence. They also included terrible illustrations. While magazine representatives were quick to say it was all satire, they were hard pressed to find anyone who thought this article had anything resembling humor. In the wake of this horribly misguided attempt at an April Fool’s joke, there were public protests and apologies from other sections of the company. It’s clear the editors should’ve never let an extended article that made light of serious domestic issues see the light of day.
#1: The Minion Mic Drop Misfire
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Google Sending a message from your gmail account on April 1, 2016 could’ve had disastrous consequences if this ill-advised prank went on longer. On that fateful day, Google added a button that placed a gif of a “Despicable Me” minion dropping a mic into outgoing messages. It had an awful added bonus of automatically muting conversations. Since this minion button was easy to press accidentally, you could reply to a serious message without knowing what happened. Gmail users were furious that they looked unprofessional. A man even claimed he lost his job over the joke feature. Fortunately, Google put a stop to the prank early on April Fools’ day. At least the company can say it found the worst way to use the already obnoxious “Minions”.
