April Fools Day, 2008

Happy April Fools!

I'm not going to attempt to catalog every April Fools prank that happens. Other sites have that covered, such as aprilfoolsdayontheweb.com and wikipedia. But I'll list a few of what I think are the better ones:

• The BBC has captured footage of flying penguins. As reported by telegraph.co.uk: "Camera crews discovered a colony of Adélie penguins while filming on King George Island, some 750 miles south of the Falkland Islands."

• YouTube UK has rickrolled its visitors. Clink on any of the featured videos and you'll be sent to the infamous Rick Astley video.

• Google Australia has debuted gDay technology "enabling you to search content on the internet before it is created."

Update: A few more April Fool's Day hoaxes from this year.

Nestle announced they were changing the name of the Butterfinger candy bar to "The Finger," in order to give the candy "a shorter, more contemporary name."



Guinness ran ads in some British newspapers announcing a new drink, Guinness White, available for a limited time only. (As a Guinness drinker, I had to include this one.)

A Russian newspaper, Noviye Izvestia, reported that maternity hospitals had been ordered to play the national anthem every time a baby was born, in order to foster patriotism. Given some of the bizarre laws in Russia, this seemed believable to a lot of people. When reporters queried government officials about it, even they weren't sure if it was true or not.

Hillary Clinton challenged Barack Obama to a "bowl off." She said, "today I am challenging Senator Obama to a bowl-off. A bowling night right here in Pennsylvania. Winner take all. I’ll even spot him two frames. It’s time for his campaign to get out of the gutter and allow all of the pins to be counted. And I’m prepared to play this game all the way to the tenth frame." I think Obama should take her up on the challenge.

Virgin Airlines announced in Australian papers that they were introducing a "no chair fare." Half-price tickets for anyone willing to stand for the duration of the flight. They said that about 1000 people responded to the ad and tried to buy a ticket.

April Fools Day

Posted on Mon Mar 31, 2008


Comments

I found Gmail's Gmail Custom Time to be a good one, too.
Posted by Tah  on  Tue Apr 01, 2008  at  12:51 AM
I'm embarressed to say that I fell for the BBC's flying penguins hoax for about an hour. In my defence - it was early in the morning, I was still sleep-addled, and the hoax was VERY well done - very convincing film. Then about an hour later I was sitting at my desk, and I starting thinking 'those penguins were impressive - who'd have thought penguins could fly with those stubby wings - hang on - it's April 1st - penguins can't fly!'
Posted by Nona  on  Tue Apr 01, 2008  at  05:52 AM
NATURE had an April Fools "News" artikel too today, written by a "Lori Floap" (anagram for "April Fool"):

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080401/full/news.2008.715.html

"Clown make-up may have a foundation in biology"
Posted by LaMa  on  Tue Apr 01, 2008  at  11:42 AM
Some of the April Fools jokes I like best, are the ones done by Blizzard for World of Warcraft. I can't help but always be amazed by the large number of people who FALL for them! I remember very clearly last year being in game and hearing all these people talking about the April Fools, being so excited about it.
This year, they have a couple of amusing ones:
http://www.wow-europe.com/wrath/features/bard/bardclass.xml - the Bard Class
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/moltencore/ - the Molten Core console game
Posted by sarahearth  on  Tue Apr 01, 2008  at  02:29 PM
Hey, they mentioned the museum on 10tv news in Ohio! They talked about your list, which included the left handed whopper, the taco liberty bell, and the thing with the nylons making colored TV.
Posted by Sakano  on  Tue Apr 01, 2008  at  03:27 PM
I've waited all year for this... Hairy's April Fool Day Message To The World: "Hey. Eat Or Go Home". Says it all, doesn't it? Sheyeah
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Tue Apr 01, 2008  at  06:26 PM
Wait, you mean penguins DON'T fly??? :ohh:
Posted by Big Gary  on  Tue Apr 01, 2008  at  07:47 PM
They do fly, Gary.. just require a very dense, humid atmosphere to do it in. Most of us know it as 'water'.

The one that impressed me was the Zelda Movie Trailer.. Very nicely done.. Granted, if it was an actual movie, it'd be cheesy as all get out, but it looks cool.
Posted by Robin Bobcat  on  Tue Apr 01, 2008  at  09:31 PM
Is it just me being jaded in my semi-old age or was this a mediocre year for April Fool's jokes?
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Wed Apr 02, 2008  at  01:55 AM
The Metro (paper, not French Underground system) had a good one - Dr Hans Zoff, has invented a Canine Repellant Alloy Protection - it stops dogs peeing on cars by electrocuting them - it had a diagram of how it works and everything - including a statement from Lola Forpi from Put Animals First talking about dogs. It was pretty good!
Posted by Nona  on  Wed Apr 02, 2008  at  05:57 AM
I dunno, CMG, I think they're actually kind of interesting. Not so over weird that they sound like jokes immediately. You sort of have to think for a second.
Posted by Maegan  on  Wed Apr 02, 2008  at  06:54 AM
Okay, I'm like Nona and definitely fell for the flying penguins hands down and no excuses except maybe that I like the idea that if you want something badly enough you might just get it HAHAHAHA!!! Nevermind, it was beautifully done!
Posted by hulitoons  on  Wed Apr 02, 2008  at  08:28 AM
You may be right, Maegan. I guess I'm thinking more of the April Fool's gags coming out of the corporate world. Those seemed a little weak to me this year.

When Taco Bell did their Liberty Bell gag a few years back, I thought THAT was how to do a product-related joke. I mean, who cares if Butterfinger becomes The Finger? That just looks like a normal product renaming, not something that people are going to take notice of.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Wed Apr 02, 2008  at  06:39 PM
I think this Hilary Clinton secretly harbors the wet urges for The Senator Obama, Yes? You can tell this is true when she speaks of him- she draws in the breath very deep before she tells the twisted lies of a dangerous, spurned and scorned lover, who will not stop until the tires of your '67 Plymouth Satelite are slashed to the ribbons, and your favorite Astro Boy video tapes are thrown in the alley, where they were chewed up the mean dog in the house of next door... Raoul has many the ways of gentle persuasion at his command, but for this Hillary Clinton I have no helping, for she has lost the path of wisdom and is now in the bowling alley yelling at her lover who cannot be, Senator Barack. Maybe Bill Clinton will listen to Raoul, but I do not think so, because he is very stubborn, and comes from the Arkansas, so what can you do? Nothing, unless he has the keys! Hah ha ha, you felt for it again, and now Raoul laughs until the milk comes from the nose! Rrrraoul
Posted by Raoul  on  Thu Apr 03, 2008  at  12:12 AM
Wet urges? You mean she wants to go swimming with him?? :O
Posted by Sakano  on  Thu Apr 03, 2008  at  12:48 PM
The Youtube people made a video to explain why they did the prank. haha someone trips over in the background.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0
Posted by Ricky Roller  on  Mon Apr 07, 2008  at  04:51 AM
Who heard the one about Snoop Dogg converting to mormonism??
Posted by Annie  on  Mon Apr 07, 2008  at  04:44 PM
it's great when take chances with their marketing campaigns (such as with the Taco Liberty Bell)
Posted by caffeine head  on  Sun Apr 05, 2009  at  09:42 AM
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