From spaghetti trees to left-handed burgers, brands and broadcasters have been pulling the wool over the public’s eyes for decades with increasingly absurd April Fools pranks.
The BBC pioneered the art of the mass media hoax in 1957 with its now-legendary spaghetti harvest prank. The broadcaster aired a three-minute segment showing Swiss families harvesting strands of spaghetti from trees, with the deadpan narration explaining how a mild winter and the elimination of the “spaghetti weevil” had resulted in a bumper crop. Hundreds of viewers contacted the BBC asking how to grow their own spaghetti trees, with the broadcaster reportedly responding: “Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”
Fast food chains proved particularly adept at the April Fools game. In 1998, Burger King published full-page advertisements in USA Today announcing the “Left-Handed Whopper”, claiming all the condiments had been rotated 180 degrees to benefit America’s 32 million left-handed customers. Thousands of customers visited restaurants requesting the special burger.
Taco Bell went further in 1996, announcing it had purchased the Liberty Bell and would rename it the “Taco Liberty Bell”. The company claimed it was helping reduce the country’s debt. The prank sparked such outrage that the White House press office felt compelled to issue a statement confirming the bell had not been sold.
The BBC struck again in 2008 with footage of flying penguins, presented as part of a natural history programme. The clip showed penguins taking flight and migrating to tropical South American rainforests. Former Monty Python member Terry Jones narrated the segment, which was later revealed to be an elaborate animation.
Technology giant Google became known for annual April Fools pranks between 2000 and 2019 before discontinuing the practice. Its earliest efforts included “MentalPlex” in 2000, which claimed users could search the internet using only their thoughts, and “PigeonRank” in 2002, supposedly revealing that Google’s search algorithm was powered by millions of trained pigeons pecking at keyboards.
The company’s 2016 “Gmail Mic Drop” feature backfired spectacularly. The prank allowed users to send emails with a GIF of a Minion character dropping a microphone, which would also mute all future responses to that thread. Some users accidentally sent the animated response to professional contacts and clients, with reports emerging of people claiming they lost job opportunities as a result. Google apologised and removed the feature within hours.
The coronavirus pandemic brought an end to many corporate April Fools traditions, with Google announcing in 2020 it would suspend its annual pranks out of respect for those affected by the crisis. The company has not resumed the practice since.
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