Best April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All-Time
There have been some amazing hoaxes pulled off on April 1st, duping thousands and thousands of individuals.
In 2005, Google said it was branching out with a new drink: Google Gulp, claiming it would help “to achieve maximum optimization of your soon-to-be-grateful cerebral cortex.” The tech giant is active on April Fool’s, promoting bogus Google products including Google Romance, Gmail Paper and Google Voice for Pets.
Last year, Cottonelle tweeted that it was introducing left-handed toilet paper for southpaws out there, but only a few responded. This wasn’t the case in 1973 wheen Johnny Carson cracked a joke about a toilet paper shortage prompting worried Americans to immediately stock up.
Here is a short list of some classics:
Taco Bell purchases the Liberty Bell
1996: The Taco Bell Corporation announced it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger.
Sidd Finch: SI reveals pitcher who throws 168 mph
1985: Sports Illustrated profiled a new rookie pitcher, Sidd Finch, who was slated to pitch for the New York Mets and could pitch 65 mph faster than the record. He had never played baseball, learning the “art of the pitch” in a Tibetan monastery.
Nixon for President
1992: NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” announced Richard Nixon would run for president again proclaiming: “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.” There audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech which were revealed to be an impersonation by comedian Rich Little.
The Left Handed Whopper
1998: Burger King announced the left hand version of their famous sandwich in the USA Today, a full page ad. This “new” whopper was specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans, with all the same ingredients but all of the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers.
Color TV Conversion
1962: In Sweden, a station ‘technical expert’ Kjell Stensson appeared on air to announce a new technology which allowed viewers to convert their black and white televisions to a color reception. The viewers were instructed to pull a nylon stocking over the TV screen.
BBC’s amazing Swiss Spaghetti harvest
Swiss spaghetti harvest
1957: BBC announced that the elimination of horrible spaghetti weevil had resulted in a bumper spaghetti crop in Sweden. They televised footage of peasants pulling strands of spaghetti off of trees. Viewers immediately called BBC wanting to know how to get a spaghetti tree.
26 Day Marathon
1981: The Daily Mail reported on a confused Japanese long distance runner, Kimo Nakajimi, who misunderstood the rules for the London Marathon. Due to a translation error, he thought he had to run for 26 days not 26 miles. There were various reported sightings of the runner, but no one seemed able to stop him.
WWI: Bombs Away!
1915: In the midst of World War I, a French aviator flew over a German camp and dropped what appeared to be a huge bomb. The German soldiers immediately scattered in all directions, but no explosion followed. After some time, the soldiers crept back and gingerly approached the bomb. They discovered it was actually a large football with a note tied to it that read, “April Fool!”
About the author:
Brandon detoured from pursuing a degree in history but never lost his love of knowledge embracing the famous George Santayana quote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Brandon currently writes the National Comic Book Examiner, the Tampa Bay Comic Book Examiner as well as the National American history Examiner.
