The Best and Worst April Fools’ Day Jokes So Far

By Notable Life
|

You’re not the only one to take advantage of April Fools’ Day with pranks pulled on unsuspecting coworkers.

The occasion also offers a major PR opportunity for brands – as long as they can pull it off without ruining their reputation in the process. 2016 has already seen some pretty major April Fools’ Day fails from some of the world’s largest companies.

But we’ve also seen some clever wins. Here are the best and the worst April Fools’ Day jokes so far.

[ad_bb1]

April Fools’ Day Wins:

H&M
In a clever and well-executed April Fools’ Day joke, H&M announced a “collaboration” with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. His clothing line consists of one pair of blue jeans and seven basic grey t-shirts. “‘This new gender-neutral minimalistic range was inspired by Mark’s belief that making even the easiest decisions (like what to wear or what to eat for breakfast) consumes mental energy and gets in the way of doing more important things. That’s why we named this collection ‘One less thing to think about in a morning’,” said the company. The accompanying campaign features real photos of Zuckerberg rocking his signature grey t-shirt and jeans in a variety of different settings.

Photo: H&M

Photo: H&M

Expedia
Expedia introduces “Ginge-Air,” an airline that caters exclusively to gingers.“We are thrilled to welcome Ginge-Air to our roster of over 400 airline partners,” said Sally Conway, newly appointed chief of business strategies for Expedia Brand in Canada. “With the introduction of Ginge-Air, Expedia.ca is rolling out the red carpet for red-headed clientele by providing a first-of-its-kind premium travel option to gingers looking to travel in style. As an added bonus, each ginger receives a large bucket of sunscreen with purchase and a subscription to freckles, Ginge-Air’s redhead-centric travel magazine.

Pornhub
Pornhub takes the win for the “corniest” April Fools’ Day joke. Today’s morning porn seekers were met with a frustrating surprise when they visited Pornhub to find that their usual porn selection had been replaced by steamy shots of corn, along with a re-branded site called Cornhub.com. It’s complete with video options of corn “shucking like you’ve never seen,” “first time kernel popping,” and “slob on the cob.”

corn

Netflix
Friday morning Netflix bingers were left confused today when every movie category was changed to back-to-back John Stamos content. Options included “Action & Adventures John Stamos Enjoys With His Bros,” “Dramas That Make John Stamos Feel Emotions,” and “Suspenseful Movies That Make John Stamos Anxious,” just to name a few. I imagine some people were just fine with that.


April Fools’ Day Fails:

Virgin America
Virgin America “unveiled” a new logo that like a pair of women’s breasts. Or, as one Twitter user’s grandma thought, “saggy balls.” Accompanying the logo is a video parody that features a mix of real and fake employees discussing the new logo complete with suggestive undertones. Richard Branson himself makes an appearance, pointing to either side of his chest, saying, “I feel it right in here.” It didn’t take long for people to take to Twitter, calling the ad sexist and in poor taste.

Google
To kick off the day, Google had a joke backfire in a pretty major way. The company added a “mic drop” button in Gmail beside the send button that inserted a GIF from the Minions movies into an email reply, then hit all further replies and ended the conversation. The Gmail users who rely on the service for business didn’t find the joke funny, with some even claiming to have lost jobs as a result. Google has since apologized: “Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year. Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs.”

TTC
Today, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) released a video that’s almost as big of a waste of time as hoping for a delay-free transit ride to work. The gruelling, two-and-a-half-minute video discusses everything you need to know about the TTC’s Proof of Purchase (POP) policy disguised as talk of pop, the soft drink (get it? Ugh). While the video does admittedly offer a clever and creative way to get the message across, it’s just so painful to watch. Not to mention, it looked like an undertaking to produce. Shouldn’t they put that time and money into making the service more efficient instead?

[ad_bb2]