Smell search, bhaang-flavour milkshakes: a look at popular April Fool’s Day pranks

Mar 29, 2023

By: Srishti Magan

​April Fool’s Day

Despite conflicting origin stories, April Fool’s Day is one of the most famous holidays celebrated globally on April 1. It’s a day of playing pranks and even companies have indulged in it. Here are some April Fool’s Day pranks pulled by companies across the globe:

Credit: Pexels

​Google: something smells fishy

Over the years, the tech giant has successfully fooled many unsuspecting users with ingenious pranks. But one of the most innovative pranks was in 2012 when it introduced a Google Nose Beta, a way to search for smells.

Credit: YouTube

​Domino’s Pizza: a joke in every bite

In 2014, Domino’s introduced The #DominosEdibox — a pizza box that one could eat. The company dubbed it a ‘snackaging innovation’, before eventually revealing that it was little more than a prank.

Credit: Facebook

​Urban Company: alarming services

The mobile marketplace offers services at home for almost everything — including alarm services. In 2021 the platform released an ad for wake-up services where trained professionals would physically visit consumers and wake them up. It was a joke but many people felt the need for it!

Credit: Twitter

​Burger King: too sweet to be true​

In 2018, the fast food giant Burger King introduced a chocolate whopper — burger made from all things sweet — from a chocolate cake bun to flame-grilled chocolate patty, and even raspberry syrup. It was also made of lies.

Credit: YouTube

​Jägermeister: a shot of balm​

Jägermeister, everyone’s go-to liquor for fiery shots, introduced a Jäger Balm in 2018 through an ad on YouTube. Its purpose — a healing balm to remedy “bartender’s elbow.” Of course, it was an elaborate joke.

Credit: Twitter

​Keventers: bura na mano, April Fool’s hai​

In 2021, Holi was on March 29, three days before April Fool’s day. Beverage brand Keventers planned ahead and launched a bhaang-flavoured milkshake — only to reveal to consumers on Apri 1 that it was all a joke.

Credit: Instagram

​Coca-Cola: giving wings to jokes

In the UK, beverage giant Coca-Cola teamed up with the British magazine Families to introduce a new variant, Helium Coca-Cola in 2017. The magazine released an article stating that the helium-carbonated drink gives its fans hilariously high-pitched voices — only to reveal at the end that it’s a joke.

Credit: Families

​Amazon: introducing Alexa Dolittle​

In 2017, the e-commerce giant played the perfect prank on users of Amazon’s Alexa by introducing Petlexa — a feature that allows pets to communicate with Alexa and ask for food, place orders, etc. No points for guessing, it was a hoax.

Credit: YouTube

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