April Fools in the Business World

We all know the classic April Fools Jokes, taping the side sprayer on the faucet so when the water is turned on the person get sprayed, replacing the Oreo filling with toothpaste, turning someone’s office or bedroom completely upside-down, etc. Today, on this Fool-filled Friday, I decided to look out into the business world and share some ways that businesses have fooled us (or tried to) in the past.

1.      Google announced in 2012 that it would be shutting down YouTube as it was just a temporary effort to find the best video uploads in the world. Thankfully, it was a joke.

2.      Microsoft broadcasted its new “Palm Search technology” where users can search on Bing telepathically by scanning their handprint.

3.      Sports Illustrator writer, George Plimpton, wrote a story of a new Mets’ pitcher, Siddhartha Finch who could pitch at 168 miles per hour. Talk about throwing the heat!

4.      Groupon unveiled their new Grøüber service providing, “transportation from Groupon. Right meow” which features cats driving around passengers by following laser lights. YIKES!

5.      In 2014, Roku announced a Roku Watch, in case anyone wanted to squint at an itty-bitty screen to watch their favorite television show.

6.      In 1998, Alabama lawmakers decided to pass a law redefining “pi” as simply the number 3 as opposed to the never-ending 3.141592… However, still to this day pi has no end.

7.      Here’s one for all you south-paws, in 2015 Cottonelle tweeted its new left-handed toilet paper! Sorry to burst your bubble, but it is not true.

8.      Taco Bell, in 1996, announced via newspaper ad that it had bought the Liberty Bell in efforts to help the national dept. However, the popular fast-food chain did donate $50,000 for the bell’s care.

9.      Petco joked about releasing a selfie stick made for cats and dogs. Such a camera taking device would be activated by a simple “bark” or “meow”.

10. Office 2016 for cats was introduced in 2015 by Microsoft including PowerPounce, OneNap, and Meow.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to seeing what businesses roll out this year for the infamous day of pranks!