April Fool’s Triumphs: Brands’ Top 10 Hilarious Pranks That Broke the Internet | Mobio Group
April 1 is not just a day of jokes and fun. It is also an insidious period when fake news floods the Internet, making us question the reality.
Many companies use this day to publish humorous messages, announcements of non-existent products and other pranks in an effort to get closer to the audience and fuel interest in their brand. At the same time, the level of jokes today is not limited to the standard “April Fool’s day” type of prank. Some April Fool’s jokes are so convincing that they can fool millions of users.
On this day we mostly need to have a sense of humor and patience, focus more on critical thinking and practice distinguishing fakes from quality jokes created by brands, whose goal is to attract traffic and increase recognition.
Mobio Group team has selected the top 10 popular pranks of companies that brought them the maximum number of likes, reposts, comments and discussions, causing unprecedented excitement among users and increased interest in the brand.
Google’s video announcing the new Screen Cleaner mobile app has garnered over 4 million views in 2019. The video presentation of the new Android smartphone screen cleaning feature was done so professionally that many users took the news seriously, and the brand got its next moment of fame.
HTC
Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones and tablets, as well as devices for physical immersion in virtual reality HTC was flooded with millions of orders after the release of fake news about “Smart socks HTC RE Sok” with a full set of all kinds of sensors. The novelty was designed to solve the problem of finding lost socks by equipping each product with a GPS module. And a special sensor signaled the user about the need to replace socks when a hole was formed.
Samsung
Electronics and home appliances manufacturer Samsung pleased users with the announcement of the release of smart jeans with a built-in module ZipARTIK, which thanks to modern technology allows you to always keep under control the zipper on the pants and avoid mishaps.
PayPal
PayPal, the largest debit electronic payment system, has increased brand awareness at the expense of a good April Fool’s joke and promoted its app in 2018 by offering users to print money directly through it.
Hessen FFH
A flurry of calls and an incredible wave of hype and fame was received in 2009 by the German radio station Hessen FFH, which announced the news of Angela Merkel’s pregnancy. Actors imitated the voices of the chancellor’s personal gynecologist, the chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Franz Müntefering, and Angela Merkel herself. The radio station, as well as the Bundestag administration, accepted numerous congratulations to the chancellor from excited Germans for days. No punitive measures were taken by the German authorities regarding the Hessen FFH’s April Fool’s joke.
Original source: Frankfurter Rundschau
OpenTable
Online restaurant reservation company OpenTable has unveiled its new OpenTable Taste feature for the first of April 2016, available exclusively in the app, which gives users the opportunity to sample dishes in advance using their phone, phablet or tablet. To do so, all you have to do is lick the screen — “Sample dishes with just a lick (or three),” says a serious video with the hashtag #foodporn you can taste!
Tinder
An app for Android and iOS mobile platforms designed for romantic dating has shown great knowledge of its female audience in a first April Fool’s prank. Tinder has announced a new feature on its app, “Growth Check”. According to Tinder, 80% of men have indicated on their profiles that they are taller than 6 feet (182.88 cm), while statistics state that only 14.5% of men (in the US) are that tall. Tinder received a huge number of comments and discussions thanks to this joke, significantly increasing the number of hours spent on the app by the female audience.
H&M
In 2016, for Laughing Day, the internet was abuzz with news about the release of a new collection of clothing created through a collaboration between fashion brand H&M and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The box set faux lineup consists of seven gray T-shirts and a pair of jeans. The range is described as a “Gender-neutral minimalist range”, “inspired by Mark’s beliefs that making even the simplest decisions (like what to wear or what to eat for breakfast) consumes mental energy and gets in the way of doing more important things”.
BMW
German car manufacturer BMW has pranked its subscribers by announcing that side turn signals will be removed from the list of equipment from 2022. The video with the slogan “there is no place for parts that are not used anyway” caused heated discussions in social networks, at the same time reminding users of the need to comply with traffic rules and mutual courtesy of drivers.
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Terry Jones, host of the BBC’s Wonders of Evolution program, told the audience about penguins who decided to escape the cold and headed for the warm shores of South America. The video “Flying Penguins” was edited so competently (by the standards of 2000) that the number of views exceeded 14 million, and many conservationists and eco-activists began to use it as an argument in favor of their arguments.
Undoubtedly, competent pranks fuel the audience’s interest in a brand. But companies should be careful and think carefully about April Fools’ jokes. Otherwise, the result may not be funny at all, especially for the brand. Ilon Musk has repeatedly distinguished himself with his unsuccessful pranks. In the spring of 2018, his attempt to make a joke using wordplay in a Twitter post about Tesla’s bankruptcy caused the company’s stock to drop by 7%.
April Fool’s Day, or Laughter Day, is a great opportunity for a brand to go viral, energize its community, break through the competitive social media landscape, and capture the attention of its audience. But remember, April 1 is also a day of vigilance, because you can be pranked too. Don’t let fake news mislead you and don’t take everything at face value! And by the way, guess which of the top 10 hoaxes did not exist?
