Forget the fake engagements and pregnancies on social media. April Fools’ Day is the perfect opportunity for pranksters to go all out – and big names like Google and BMW aren’t about to miss out.
The rule for April Fools’ Day is to trust nothing. Now that it’s over, here are some well-played gags from this year:
The Pirate Bay announced that they were developing a simple plugin called The Virtual Bay that would allow users to not only see or hear a movie, but actually live it. To add credibility, The Pirate Bay said the project was being done “in cooperation with russian, israeli and japanese neuro scientists.”
While that fake news got some people excited, NPR upset quite a few cinephiles with their news that Keanu Reeves would star in a remake of Citizen Kane.
Following its endearingly gory Valentine’s Day animation, Dumb Ways to Die continues spreading its message of safety on April Fools’ Day.
With East Japan Railway Co.’s EkiKA project, scent alerts save distracted commuters from missing their stop. The project requires 30 unique scents, including Beer hops for Ebisu, warm crepes for Harajuku, and an ocean breeze for Hamamatsu-cho.
Too lazy to read? The Google Chrome Team announced Google Translate support for Emoji, which lets you “read all your favorite web content using efficient and emotive illustrations, instead of cumbersome text.”
Meanwhile, Google+ introduced Auto Awesome Photobombs with David Hasselhoff. Because why not?
Vegemite joined the energy drink craze with the iDRINK 2.1. “Will you swap your Vegemite toast for this when you’re on the go?” they ask on Facebook, to the disgust of some gullible Vegemite fans.
In another case of food getting a little bit too adventurous, Cheetos launched its limited edition fragrance Cheetau, which they described as “powerful, with plenty of bite.” Dangerously cheesy. Yes.
BMW New Zealand announced the BMW ZZZ Series Cot, “in response to the plight of millions of parents around the world who spend hours driving around the block in an effort to get their upset infants to sleep.”
DDB New Zealand created content for the launch, including a microsite and a 50 second video.
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Google challenged its users to hone their Pokémon-capturing abilities using Google Maps. “We value employees who are risk-taking and detail-oriented, have deep technical knowledge, and can navigate through tall grass to capture wild creatures. It turns out that these skills have a lot in common with another profession—that of the Pokémon Master,” said Google. The winner of the challenge would become Pokémon Master at Google. While the job was unfortunately fake, the fun that people had was very real.
