Have you ever been pranked? If the answer is yes then you probably know how embarrassing it must feel to be on the receiving end. However, even if we’ve been pranked we can’t help ourselves from laughing at others. Some people are utterly stupid and totally unaware when it comes to jokes. They may come in all shapes and sizes, from the best April fools pranks, to best senior pranks, school pranks, best prank calls and even best office pranks.
There are thousands upon thousands of pranks that will have you laughing with tears, but today we would like to share with you some of the best pranks in history, that people actually fell for (maybe you will get some ideas for a prank of your own).
1. 4chan Users Hijack Mountain Dew Contest
Back in 2012, PepsiCo wanted to get a campaign going, where it asked Internet users to invent clever ideas for a new Mountain Dew flavor. They were never expecting an army of 4chaners to hijack their contest. The end result was names like “Fapple”, “Gushing Granny”, “Hitler did nothing wrong” and many more. Around Sunday night, the 4chan imageboard community decided to do one of the best pranks ever. The operation was called “Operation: Gushing Grandma” and during it all members of the community flooded the PepsiCo website for “Dub the Dew” with bizarre names. In the end, the website crashed.
“Too much fun, you’d think companies would just expect this shit by now.” – festerchuck on Reddit
“Just wait. Sooner or later, one company will just say ‘F#$k it, print it. And people will freak. Then, I bet their sales will spike.”
This is definitely one of the best pranks of all time.
2. 4Chan Convinces Idiots to Microwave their iPhones
Since we are already on the topic of 4chan, here’s another prank they did that made history. It is mind-boggling how many people were fooled by one of the worlds best pranks. What 4chan did was to come up with a fake new feature for the iPhone (image below). According to it, microwave charging was possible, and waves were harmless to the phone.
The fake ad was spread on social media using burner Twitter accounts, Facebook, social apps, Youtube and hashtags. The prank was such a success that it even got media coverage. Some fools actually fell for it. An Android user would never fall for something like this.
3. Helicopter Shark
No list of best pranks of all time would be complete without including the first true Internet hoax. In 2001, this photo appeared on the internet. Masses of people were captivated by the unusual footage, and National’s Geographic actually called this the “Photo of the Year”. In reality, the moment (which could have been easily captured on video were it real), is nothing but two separate images (one with a helicopter and the other with a shark). In the end, the prank was debunked.
4. The Death Star Petition
There are many cool pranks in this world: with friends, parents, kids, Halloween, college, roommates, teachers, sisters, computers and boyfriends, but there is no prank more amazing than this one. Apparently, in 2013 an online petition was made on the White House’s official page for US government to begin construction of a Death Star. This event garnered some level of attention.
It seems that if a petition garners more than 25.000 signatures, it will be reviewed by the administration and constructed, if accepted. The death star petition received 35.000 signatures. Therefore, the administration reviewed the petition and decided that 850$ quadrillion is too much for the world’s planet. As a matter of fact, their response was:
“Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship.”
Granted, this may not be exactly a common joke, but considering the response it received we could say that it is one of the best pranks ever.
5. Bald for Bieber
This particular prank managed to scary many concerned fangirls. Some went to great lengths to oblige Bieber and they soon find out that it was nothing but a joke. Anyway, Entertainment Tonight’s Twitter feed had one of its images photoshopped. In it, Bieber, who always has a sweet song to sing about his girlfriend, appears bald, and people say that he was diagnosed with cancer (the hashtag #baldforbieber became infamous then). A few hours and days later, concerned fans shaved off their heads in support for Justin.
We hope you liked our list of best pranks of all time. Of course, there are many more that you could find on different websites. You can pull them anywhere, and anytime: at a birthday, during a sleepover, as revenge etc. Just make sure you don’t try everything you find on sites because they might not be legal or safe.