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April Fools! - The 20 Greatest Corporate Pranks Of All Time

This article is more than 8 years old.

With another April Fools’ Day upon us, many of us will be gingerly walking around in the hopes of avoiding the office prankster.  However, corporations have also had their share of great April Fools’ Day jokes over the years.  In chronological order, here are 20 of my all time favorites:

1955 - Contra-Polar Energy (Popular Electronics):  Popular Electronics ran an article about a new type of energy, called contra-polar, that would cause electrical devices to produce the opposite effect of what they normally would do.  For instance, if applied to a typical lamp, the bulb would cast darkness instead of light.  Similarly, if applied to a soldering iron or stove, the devices would grow freezing cold.  Contra-polar energy technology was said to have been developed during World War II, but had recently been declassified because of its potential use to the general public.

1957 - Swiss Spaghetti Harvest (British Broadcasting Company):  The BBC announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop.  They also showed footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees.  Large numbers of viewers were fooled.  When many called the company wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree, BBC supposedly replied, "place a piece of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

1962 - Instant Color TV (Sveriges Television):  Sweden's Sveriges Television announced that a new technology would allow viewers to convert their existing black and white sets to color.  This was groundbreaking news, since there were no color TV broadcasts in Sweden at the time.  Viewers were told that all they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their TV screen, and the mesh would cause the light to bend in such a way that it would appear as if the image was in color.  Thousands of people were fooled and tried out the new technique.

1965 - Smell-o-vision (British Broadcasting Company):  The BBC broadcast an interview with a professor who supposedly developed an amazing new technology, called "Smell-o-vision", that allowed the transmission of smells over the airwaves.  Viewers would now be able to smell aromas produced in the television studio in their own homes because the machine broke scents down into their component molecules which were then transmitted through the screen.  He then demonstrated the technology by placing some coffee beans and onions into the Smell-o-vision machine.  He asked viewers to report whether they had smelled anything.  As would be expected, several viewers called in from across the country to confirm that they had distinctly experienced these scents.  Some even claimed that the onions made their eyes water.

1973 - Write-Only Memory (Signetics Corporation):  The Signetics corporation announced the invention of a revolutionary new electronic memory that promised to "improve the quality of life for billions of people who are affected by computer data."  As opposed to the common "write-and-read" or "read-only" memories (ROM), they had perfected Fully-Encoded Write-Only Memory (aka WOM).  Data could be written to the device, but never read back, thus ensuring Eternally Inaccessible Storage (EIS).

1980 - A Digital “Big Ben” (British Broadcasting Company):  The BBC reported that the iconic clock, Big Ben, was going to be upgraded to be given a digital readout.  The report included people's nostalgic reminiscences about the world's most famous clock, such as anecdotes about the day it stopped and when it chimed 13 times instead of 12.  Finally, the service announced that the clock hands, being no longer needed, would be given away to the first four listeners to contact them.

1983 - Rain-Deflecting Open Top Car (BMW):  BMW announced that one of its engineers, Herr Blöhn, had designed a sunroof that could be kept open even in the rain, thanks to jets of air that blasted the water away from the top of the car.  The amazing new system worked completely automatically, even with the roof fully open in a car wash.

1985 - The Great Sidd Finch (Sports Illustrated):  George Plimpton famously told the story of Sidd Finch, a mysterious Mets pitching prospect.  Finch, a British orphan, purportedly "learned the art of the pitch" from Tibetan monks, throwing 168 miles per hour with uncanny accuracy.  Plimpton dropped a few clues into the story, including a sub-headline that spelled out "Happy April Fools' Day" and a quote from the commissioner proclaiming, "I'll have to see it to believe it!"

1992 - Welcome To Chicago (Los Angeles Airport):  Los Angeles airport executives created a 85-foot-long yellow banner on the ground that spelled out, in 20-foot-high red letters, "Welcome to Chicago."  It was raised above the Hollywood Park race track, which lay directly along the flight path for arriving planes, about three miles from the airport.  Anyone arriving into the airport would have probably felt a feeling of panic as they looked out the window and thought they were in the wrong city.

1996 - Liberty Bell Bought (Taco Bell):  Taco Bell announced the company's purchase of the Liberty Bell.  The announcement read: "In an effort to help the national debt, Taco Bell is pleased to announce that we have agreed to purchase the Liberty Bell, one of our country's most historic treasures.  It will now be called the 'Taco Liberty Bell' and will still be accessible to the American public for viewing.  While some may find this controversial, we hope our move will prompt other corporations to take similar action to do their part to reduce the country's debt."

1996 - Blue Can Cola Warning (Virgin Cola):  Virgin Cola announced that in the interest of consumer safety it had integrated a new technology into its cans to improve consuer safety.  When the soft drink passed its expiration date, the liquid reacted with the metal in the can, turning the exterior of the can bright blue.  Virgin warned that consumers should therefore avoid purchasing all blue cans.  Coincidentally, Pepsi had recently unveiled its newly designed cans which were, of course, bright blue.  A brilliant marketing move.

1998 - The Left-Handed Hamburger (Burger King):  Burger King announced it was launching a new Whopper burger designed for its left-handed customers, and took out a full-page ads to promote the revolutionary sandwich.  The company said the new Whopper would have all its condiments rotated by 180 degrees, "thereby redistributing the weight of the sandwich so that the bulk of them skew to the left" and reducing spills for lefties.

2002 - Whistling Carrots (Tesco):  British supermarket chain, Tesco, announced the company's successful engineering of “whistling carrots”.  These special carrots had been genetically modified so they would grow with air holes on their sides.  When fully cooked, these air holes caused the vegetable to emit a "97 decibel signal" indicating they should be removed from the stove.

2009 - Wolf-Pigeon Hybrids (Qualcomm):  Qualcomm announced a bold new method of broadcasting wireless signals - Flying wolf-pigeon hybrids that would bring Wi-Fi around the world.  According to Qualcomm, the wolf enhancements were made to pigeons because, "We simply cannot allow our network transmitters to be killed off by feral cats or cold weather."  To guard against a wolf-pigeon rebellion, the company also pitched a shark-falcon crossover.  And to control the Shark Falcons, in turn, Qualcomm engineers had drafted plans to create a Crocodeagle (crocodile-eagle hybrid).

2009 - Lunar and Martian Hotel Rooms (Hotels.com & Expedia):  Hotels.com announced that it would soon be offering affordable rooms on the lunar surface.  "We are confident that a stay on the moon will be truly out of this world," the company said.  The release advertised rooms starting at 800 British pounds - about $1,200, not including travel costs.  Not to be outdone, Expedia.com advertised hotels on Mars starting at $99.

2010 - Plenta And Micra Coffee Sizes (Starbucks):  Starbucks announced the addition of two new ridiculous sizes to their lineup: the Plenta (128 fluid ounces) and the Micra (2 fluid ounces) due to what they called "customer request".  The company suggested alternative uses for the new cups, such as a rain hat for the Plenta and a kitten dish for the Micra.

2011 - Trademarking "April Fools’ Day" (Groupon):  Groupon launched a full website announcing that it had acquired the intellectual trademark to April Fools' Day itself.  The website claims it will crack down on patent offenders - i.e., others who try to do April Fools' pranks without their permission - and includes many features, including a fake patent application, a quiz to see if you are an April Fool, a prank shop, and a list of planned pranks for the next 20 years.

2011 - Branson Buys Pluto (Virgin Group):  Virgin Group announced that it's founder, Sir Richard Branson, decided to buy the planet Pluto for an undisclosed sum and reinstate it as a planet.  Branson is also having a special deep space vehicle built that will help increase Pluto's planetary mass.  "Virgin has expanded into many territories over the years, but we have never had our own planet before," said Branson.  "This could pave the way for a new age in space tourism."

 2012 - Eyeglasses For Dogs (Warby Parker):  Eyewear company Warby Parker claimed it was releasing a dog eyeglasses vertical, appropriately named Warby Barker.  Products included such things as a monocle for dogs to make them look more distinguished.  For users who fell for the stunt, an "April Fools!" message popped up when they added the $95 doggy glasses to their online shopping cart.

2013 - I’d Like To Buy A Vowel (Twitter):  Twitter announced it was changing to a two-tiered service.  The free version "Twttr" would not support vowels and only allow tweets with consonants, while "Twitter" would become a $5 per month service that supports any letters your heart desires.  "Because our users come first, we believe that 'Y' should always be free to everyone--today and forever," its statement read.  "We're doing this because we believe that by eliminating vowels, we'll encourage a more efficient and 'dense' form of communication.  We also see an opportunity to diversify our revenue stream."

(Your Picks: We'd love to hear what your favorite Corporate pranks are.  Please share your choices in the comments section.  If we get enough new ones, we might run a follow-up column featuring your selections.)

 

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