Ah, April Fool’s Day, one of the most famous and beloved celebrations all over the world, as it grants everybody the right to pull pranks on people and get away with it. April Fool’s Day jokes and hoaxes are only limited by your imagination and your strategic thinking skills and if you browse the web in the search for some great gags to adjust to your present situation, you will find everything you need, from innocent ones, to diabolic ones that only a cruel mind can pull. However, today we will not just give you a handful of ideas, but we’ll go with the classics and show you 3 historically famous April Fool’s Day pranks plotted by media moguls, corporations and organizations, as it’s not fun to fool just one or two friends, but entire populations. Let’s buckle up and see some true large scale public hoaxes!
Burger King and the Whooper for the Lefties
The prank: In 1998, Burger King concocted a prank for the American hungry minds and faithful customers, announcing via a one-page ad placed in the USA Today paper that they came up with a new Whooper dedicated to all left – handed people out there, a sandwich containing the same ingredients and flavors, while the condiments were rotated 180° to satisfy the left – handed people tastes and needs.
The consequence: It never crossed peoples’ minds that the Whooper was round, so the 180° was not only a hoax, but a clear offense towards their intelligence, so they all rushed in to get their specific burger, as left handed and right handed customers stood in interminable lines to make sure they get their correct designated Whooper.
Reduced Earth Gravity Made Everybody Jump
The British media is a living legend in pulling historically famous April Fool’s Day pranks and the British people are legendary in believing everything they are fed up with. But in our opinion, the year of 1976 was one if their cruelest public hoaxes to date.
The prank: On April 1, 1976, BBC Radio 2 astronomer Sir Patrick Moore announced the listeners that due to an upcoming alignment of planets Jupiter and Pluto, Earth will lose its gravitational strength, therefore he advised people to take this once in a life time opportunity by the horns and jump as much as they can in order to experience the unique feeling of floating.
The consequence: A few minutes after the said effect worn off, the lines got flooded with hundreds of callers wanting to publicly announce and describe their low – gravity experience, including statements of levitation around the room. Too bad the astronomical event didn’t happen.
The Swedish Spaghetti Tree
We told you the British media is the most epic troll when it comes to pulling pranks on millions of innocents at once and 1957 was their best year so far.
The prank: On April 1st 1957, BBC aired a three minute material during the Panorama show, presenting some Swedish peasants being very thrilled to harvest spaghetti from Spaghetti Trees and putting them carefully in their baskets. The show even adverted for the tree, stating that
For those who love this dish, there’s nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti.
The consequence: Right after the show was over, the BBC phone rang ferociously and impatiently, as millions of people called to ask how could they get a Spaghetti Tree of their own. BBC has always had a sense of humor, so they actually answered the callers by telling them
Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.
Now because some had the means and opportunity to fool hundreds of people at once, this doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the day by pulling pranks on their family members, friends or co – workers. So have fun and become legendary!