As a Brand Marketing Strategy... Annual April Fools' Jokes
'Tesla Bankruptcy' and Volkswagen Name Change Jokes Sometimes Backfire
Trend Declining Recently... COVID-19 Also a Factor
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] "We present the ultimate sweetness"
On April 1, 2018, a new Whopper promotional video posted by the famous American hamburger chain Burger King on YouTube read like this. This Whopper is fundamentally different from the hamburgers we knew. The patty is made purely of chocolate, not beef. This is the so-called 'Chocolate Whopper.'
Of course, as can be guessed from the posting date, this Chocolate Whopper promotional video was Burger King's April Fools' joke. However, at the time, the video recorded at least hundreds of thousands of views and caused a considerable sensation, with people uploading videos of themselves making Whoppers with chocolate.
April 1 was an April Fools' Day where jokes were exchanged with no ill intent. On this day, not only citizens but also many companies engage in numerous April Fools' pranks as a promotional effort to enhance their brand image. By playing pranks and jokes on April Fools' Day, companies can create a friendly image for their brand.
"We grow pasta on spaghetti trees"... Creative April Fools' pranks by companies
A 1957 BBC broadcast reported that a resident in Switzerland was cultivating pasta on a spaghetti tree. [Photo source=Wikipedia]
One of the most famous April Fools' jokes in the industry is the British BBC's 'Spaghetti Tree' report from half a century ago. The 1957 report featured farmers in a region of Switzerland growing pasta directly on spaghetti trees planted in their backyards. According to the BBC, the report was watched by about 8 million people at the time.
Immediately after the report aired, the next day BBC received hundreds of calls from viewers asking how to grow spaghetti, to which BBC cleverly replied, "Just put spaghetti in a can of tomato sauce and bury it underground." This report was later praised by CNN as the most ingenious April Fools' joke in media history.
Another April Fools' joke that garnered public enthusiasm was Amazon's author delivery service. On April 1, 2018, Amazon posted on its official Twitter account about launching a new delivery service that delivers the author customers want directly to their homes. The video featured bestselling mystery novelist Patricia Cornwell, famous for the
A scene from an April Fools' Day prank advertisement by PayPal in 2018. It introduces a feature that allows cash withdrawal directly from a mobile phone. [Photo by PayPal Twitter]
Other amusing April Fools' pranks by companies include PayPal, the electronic payment company, launching a feature that allows users to withdraw cash directly from their phones; Sam's Club, a major American discount store chain, releasing its own cryptocurrency called 'Bulkcoin'; and Ubisoft introducing a feature in the video game 'Assassin's Creed' where players physically perform movements to control their characters and assassinate others.
'Pok?mon Go' started as an April Fools' joke? ... Pranks that became reality
There have also been cases where April Fools' jokes were actually implemented. After Burger King's 2018 April Fools' joke about a chocolate burger received explosive response, they actually released it. Burger King Singapore announced that from the 1st to the 15th, they would sell the Chocolate Whopper as a limited edition. Of course, the patty is not chocolate. They used a beef patty but topped it with chocolate sauce instead of the usual Whopper sauce. Previously, in Taiwan, Burger King stores sold Whoppers with chocolate sauce as well.
There is also a case where an April Fools' joke became a worldwide hit. That is 'Pok?mon Go.' Pok?mon Go started as a Google April Fools' joke in 2014. Google added a new feature to its Maps app and posted a video titled 'Google Maps: Pok?mon Challenge' on its official YouTube channel to promote it.
A scene from the 'Google Maps: Pok?mon Challenge' commercial video released as part of Google's April Fools' prank in 2014. [Photo source=YouTube capture]
The video showed people using the Google Maps app to find and catch Pok?mon scattered around the world. It introduced that this feature was available only on April 1 and that the person who caught the most Pok?mon could get a job at Google as a 'Pok?mon Master.' The video depicted the gameplay of the Pok?mon Go game we know.
The video was an April Fools' event planned collaboratively by The Pok?mon Company, Nintendo, and Google, who own the Pok?mon copyrights. However, as the video garnered millions of views and great enthusiasm, The Pok?mon Company and Google decided to develop a game based on the video content. This confirmed the potential of augmented reality (AR) technology in gaming. Two years later, in July 2016, AR game developer Niantic released Pok?mon Go. An April Fools' joke became reality, creating a game played by over a billion people worldwide.
'Tesla bankruptcy', 'Volkswagen name change'... Controversies and backlash
However, some companies' April Fools' jokes have caused unexpected backlash. A representative case is the American electric vehicle company Tesla's 'Tesla bankruptcy' April Fools' joke. Ahead of April Fools' Day in April 2018, Elon Musk, leading Tesla, posted on Twitter, "Tesla has gone bankrupt." Although Musk immediately clarified it was an April Fools' joke, Tesla's stock price dropped 5% after the market opened the next day.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk's tweet stating "Tesla has gone bankrupt" [Image source=Screenshot from Elon Musk's Twitter]
Additionally, investors criticized the joke as excessive. At the time, concerns about Tesla's financial situation led to speculation about possible bankruptcy, and the CEO publicly joking about bankruptcy only heightened investors' anxiety.
Google also could not avoid backlash from an April Fools' joke. In 2016, Google updated its email service with a feature that displayed an animated GIF of the character Minions dropping a microphone and closed email threads for customers who wanted it. However, this feature was applied to customers who did not want it, disrupting private and work email communications. According to the American media The Verge, an employee accidentally used this feature while emailing their boss and was subsequently fired. Google promptly removed the feature and issued an official apology.
The Gmail Minions "GIF" feature, which was one of Google's April Fools' jokes, in action [Image source=The Verge capture]
The most recent controversial April Fools' joke was Volkswagen's announcement of a name change. On March 31, Volkswagen joked that it would change its name to 'Voltzwagen' to fully commit to electric vehicle development. 'Volt' means 'electricity' in English.
Amid the electric vehicle development boom, this 'joke' raised excessive expectations among investors, and Volkswagen's stock price rose about 5% the day after the announcement, drawing criticism from experts as stock price manipulation. James Cox, a corporate regulation law expert and professor at Duke University, criticized, "There is a line between what is acceptable and what is absolutely unacceptable. Volkswagen crossed that line."
Recent trend of reducing April Fools' jokes
As April Fools' jokes can sometimes harm brand image contrary to companies' marketing intentions, some companies have recently been reducing or refraining from April Fools' jokes.
Earlier, American software company Microsoft (MS) requested its employees not to participate in April Fools' jokes in an email before April Fools' Day 2019, stating, "The drawbacks of April Fools' jokes outweigh the benefits. The positive effect on the company's brand is limited."
Especially, concerns that excessive jokes could cause unintended backlash amid the overall depressed social atmosphere due to the COVID-19 pandemic also influenced this trend. Google announced on its internal intranet at the end of March last year, "This year's goal is to help people," and "Let's postpone jokes to next year's April Fools' Day." However, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued for over a year, Google canceled April Fools' jokes again this year.
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