This blog post was written for data-analytics firm Standices and has since been uploaded on their webpage.
For as long as we can remember, the first day of April has always been comically commemorated by pranksters and jokers alike. April Fools’ Day is also the day that major brands let us catch a glimpse of a more playful and fun side to them!
For this year’s April Fools’ Day, this are our 5 picks for the best April Fools pranks pulled by different brands, ranging from IKEA to Ribena!
1. IKEA’s tablet playground
Firstly, comes one of the most notable April Fools’ joke in Singapore in 2017. On 31 March, on IKEA’s Singapore Facebook page, IKEA announced that they were giving Småland a complete makeover. Småland, as we all know, is a forest-themed playground for children, armed with different amenities such as slides and ball-pits, parents will feel at ease leaving their children there while they shop their way through IKEA. However, with IKEA Singapore’s post on Facebook, IKEA announced that Småland would be transformed from a playground to a space where children would be given tablets to play with while waiting for their parents. Many people who saw this post were shocked that IKEA was fueling childrens’ addiction to electronic devices. The next day, IKEA revealed their previous post as an April Fools’ joke, much to the relief of many. However, just like a vast number of Facebook users, I also feel that IKEA’s April Fools’ prank was more of a reminder of everyone that nowadays, children have become so glued to smartphones and tablets that such a big company such as IKEA is ready to exploit such an addiction to cater to their customers!
2. Emirates, Largest commercial aircraft
Next up is Emirates airlines, the world’s number one airlines in 2016, according to Skytrax World Airline Awards. On April Fools’ day, Emirates, just like IKEA, posted a 📷huge ‘announcement’ on their Facebook page, telling us that they had plans to introduce to the world the world’s largest commercial aircraft the APR001. The aptly named APR001 boasted a triple-decked aircraft with an indoor swimming pool, billards table, a gym and ever a park! First seeing this post, many, including myself were surprised and in awe at Emirates’ plan to have the world’s largest commercial aircraft, however, rather than being an obvious April Fools’ joke, this post was actually quite believable – aside from the aircraft’s name, the indoor swimming pool and Emirates’ confessing that this was a joke the next day. This really puts into perspective Emirates as such a big and powerful player in the airline industry that many people believe that they are capable of such a feat.
3. Google Gnome
Google Home, launched in the United States last November, is the latest of their innovative technology. Google Home is a voice-activated hands-free speaker/assistant for your home, tell Google Home to play your music, to check for the weather or even ask for translations! But, on the 31 of March, on Google’s youtube channel, Google posted a commercial introducing to everyone the new ‘Google Gnome’, the Google Gnome could do anything for you, turn garden hoses on or off and even check for the direction of the wind, Google Gnome will do anything for you so long as it’s outside of your house! As a great April Fools’ day video, this probably is one of the funniest jokes on this list! Not only that, perhaps the Google Gnome commercial could also be a way to introduce Google Home to those who are unaware of what Google Gnome is, and show viewers the amazing things Google Home can do, with Google Gnome being an outdoors version of Google Home.
4. Burger King’s Whopper toothpaste
What’s Burger King’s most popular burger? That’s right, the Whopper! Why only enjoy it only during meal times? Enjoy the taste of the Whopper Burger throughout the day with Burger King’s Whopper toothpaste! Unbelievable, is this true? Of course not! This hilarious April Fools’ product was introduced on Burger King France’s youtube channel and Burger King’s twitter in late March! Well, if only the Whopper toothpaste were real, who wouldn’t want to taste the Whopper brushing your teeth and throughout the day?
5. Durian Flavoured Ribena
It has been almost a year since Ribena introduced their new line of lightly sparkling Ribena, with a few different flavours such as orange and apple! On April Fools’ day, on Ribena Singapore’s Facebook page, Ribena posted a picture of Durian flavoured ribena. The Durian, known for its pungent scent is arguably the most notorious fruit in Southeast Asia, most locals here in Singapore love the fruit, and have Durian flavoured cake, cream puffs and ice-cream! It was quite funny that Ribena poked fun at the idea of Durian flavoured Ribena, they also used this post to ask us what other Ribena flavours we’d like to see! I feel this their post really showed us that Ribena really cares for our opinion on upcoming flavours of Ribena, also teasing to us that Ribena making plans to introduce to us new flavours of Ribena!
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fCRqsQBvPY https://twitter.com/BurgerKing/status/848218411389796352/photo/
Comments