Can you imagine how much fun it would be to be the CEO of a large corporation with the ability to play an April Fools’ Day prank on the entire country? With the big day just around the corner, it’s time for us to put up our guards. No longer is it just your family and friends that you have to be wary of, but companies, celebrities, politicians; really anyone in the public eye. Let’s learn from previous April Fools’ Days so we can be on our A game when April 1 rolls around.
While many digital artists probably wished this was real news last year, the fake ban on use of the famously horrible font, Comic Sans, was just another April Fool’s Day joke. Complete with a logo and slogan (“Give Comic Sans the Boot”), this prank involved what appeared to be an official press release from Commissioner George P. Bush’s Texas General Land Office explaining why this “childish” font was to be banned from use in all official documents. The release recommends using Times New Roman, Helvetica or Arial as substitutes for Comic Sans, but the “terribad” Papyrus is not acceptable.
Audi’s April Fools’ Day prank last year had a lot of office workers ready to purchase their autonomous office chair. The chair syncs to your work calendar, knowing where and when your next meeting is. When it’s time to go, the chair just starts moving, rolling you to the correct location. The chair also has your back (ha!) when you need a caffeine jolt. Thanks to biometric sensors, the chair knows when your coffee mug needs a refill and, of course, it drives you right to the break room. Possibly the greatest innovation the autonomous office chair features, however, is supervisor avoidance technology. Thanks to facial recognition, the chair will steer clear of any bosses who are in your path. Seriously, why hasn’t anyone started making this, yet?
Lots of Amazon users were probably frantically clicking refresh last year when they just wanted to do some shopping, only to find the homepage looking as it did in 1999. Not only that, but the homepage also had links to products perfect for April Fools’ Day, such as whoopee cushions and rubber chickens. The top songs and books listed were all relevant to the holiday as well; think Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools” and a Nancy Drew book whose plot takes place on April Fools’ Day.
Alamo’s April Fools’ Day prank last year was a new monster truck rental program. Instead of cramming all of your luggage into the cheapest option available, why not spread out a little and have an adventure in a monster truck on your next vacation?! The video is really well done and everyone on camera is believable. The company’s reason for adding monster trucks to their fleet is simple; families wanted something “different” and “memorable.” One thing is for certain, I would actually be buying the insurance on one of those babies.