April Fools’ Day has come and gone, with another year of hoaxes, parodies and general tomfoolery. We break down the contentious day of false advertising, crooked campaign strategies and playful product launches.
Here are some of the best and the worst of the lot.
Eden Park:
The Herald and the Eden Park Trust butted horns on 1 April, unleashing a new initiative for the national stadium: a grazing session for 10,000 Perendale lambs.
Nick Saunter, the Eden Park Trust chief executive, told the Herald that the key to commercial success was diversification, claiming the meat industry is one of New Zealand’s biggest export earners and that the famous rugby fortress Eden Park could provide the perfect feeding ground.
Turf manager Blair Christiansen later told the Herald, he will make sure the cloven hoof and studded boot weren’t on the turf at the same time.
Lego:
Pack up time after a Lego session is a sobering realisation for any human being. The team at Lego promised to fix the struggle this Easter, unveiling its revolutionary brick sorting vacuum, which sucks up and sorts the Lego pieces for you.
Spark:
Spark launched its elaborate and rather gumpy FaceSaver product, which focuses on injury prevention for clumsy cell phone users. In classic infomercial fashion, the large, purple ramp is described as discrete and lightweight design. The ad piles on the parody, where customers speak in unenthused monotones about their love for the new product. The advertisement on social media adds that the FaceSaver product is not offered in any stores or anywhere for that matter.
Contiki:
The team at Contiki continued its foolish ways from last year’s fake deployment of artificial intelligence trip managers. This year Contiki put its iconic French Chateau De Cruix up for sale, luring the public onto its new property listing, where it points out that it is not in fact on the market. The page states selling the Chateau would be like your mum giving away your baby photos.
New World:
New World takes a slightly more relaxed approach for it’s April Fools hoax, toying with the concept of a multi-pocketed shopping apron to its customers.
Trade Me:
Inspired by Uber Eats, Trade Me announced it will bring local Kiwi Kai to hungry New Zealanders around the country with the launch of Trade Me Eats.
In the annoucement,Trade Me spokesman Paul Ford said it felt like the right time for the company to launch a member-to-member food delivery business.
“You can buy cars, houses, couches and even find a job on Trade Me, so why not your dinner too? We think there’ll be a real appetite for this.
“Heaps of our members are brilliant cooks and we want them to be able to share their foodie creations with the rest of New Zealand. We’re also on the hunt for a head of eating to run this new business”.
Ford said hungry Trade Me members will have access to “hundreds of morsels”. Early sign-ups have confirmed Pete’s possum pie, Anton’s Kaikoura crayfish and Sarah’s Kerikeri pavlova will be on the menu.
“Any foodie with a Trade Me account will be able to list and purchase food while we take care of the delivery,” he added.
Ford said there would be a number of categories on the Trade Me Eats site. “It will include new items, used items, hot items, cold items, half-eaten items and artisan items. We’ll advise members on how to ensure their food is best packaged and sent too.”
KFC:
KFC cooked up a cosmetic product this April Fools, offering a new deep-fried face mask that supports tenderness and promises to leave customers skin with a golden glow.
Google Maps:
Where’s Waldo snuck into the Google Maps app for Google’s April Fools stunt this year. The foolery is whimsy rather than an out an out prank, as users can marvel at the familiar comical character popping up on their Maps app and play the nostalgic game of Where’s Waldo, or Where’s Wally for those with British leanings.
Waldo joins a long list of fictional characters, such as Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Mario, and many others who have featured on the application. Google holds a legacy of April Fool’s stunts dating back to the year 2000, where it unveiled its MentalPlex feature, which claimed to read your mind.
Soda Stream:
Featuring reality stars Reza Farahan and The Mountain, SodaStream released its new SodaSoak range for this year’s April Fools instalment. The advertisement shows Farahan bathing in the new SodaSoak water which offers, sparkly bubbles, dazzling bubbles or OHMYGOSH bubbles. The advertisement is overt in classic American style offering additional products such as the ‘luxurious waterbed adapter’ and slashing product prices by thousands of dollars.
Local lingerie brand Rose & Thorne diversified its range to stop Moob-bounce.
We know men suffer from nipple chafing and boob bounce. So, we’ve created Rose & Thorne’s first non-friction support bra specifically designed for men.
Available online now from www.roseandthorne.com/man-bra
- What did we miss? Add it in the comments, or email [email protected] and we can update the list.
- Click here to see some of the April Fools action from across the ditch.
