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Lies, damned lies: the obligatory April Fool’s round-up —UPDATED

Some might argue there’s a degree of trickery every day of the year in the world of marketing and media. But it’s taken to much more preposterous levels—and is almost actively encouraged—on April Fool’s Day. So here’s a collection of the best pranks, fakes and subterfuges from New Zealand and around the world. 

Team New Zealand cuddled up to its sponsors and announced its secret weapon in a well-made video: a new coffee machine. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCWa9CKG5Pc 

McDonald’s announced on its Facebook page that due to the increasing number of adults eating happy meals, purchasers would have to be under a certain height from now on. 

The Green Party sent out a press release offering suggestions on how to achieve the illusive work/life balance, including a number of new public holidays like Bob Marley’s commemoration dayLove your cycle (not in a dirty way) day, and Dolphin love day. 

GrabOne has plenty of ridiculous deals, but underwater mini-golf is probably pushing it. 

The Listener unveiled what it called “the inbox tax” with a story claiming Gmail would be paywalled. 

Following on from its triple-decker buses in 2012, InterCity announced a Skype-like function called Bus Chat

The Phoenix sent out a release saying Gareth Morgan would be taking over as coach

Someone in Raglan had a bit of fun baiting the NIMBY’s with a sign saying Wendy’s was coming to town. 

And while it’s not exclusively for April Fool’s, NZ on Screen has collated some footage of the country’s best pranks, including Country Calendar’s classic spoofs and a variety of mockumentaries. 

Overseas, Google showed off its massive April Fool’s Day budget with an array of impressive fakery, including a 10-year shutdown of YouTube to choose the winner of its ‘competition’, a treasure mode where clues were revealed after exposure to heat, Gmail Blue, Google Nose and a few others. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H542nLTTbu0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qFFHC0eIUc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr4JwPb99qU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-P6jEMtixY

Twitter said it was going to start charging to use vowels in Tweets. 

The Guardian launched a new, more immersive way to read. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuNagrUT_Zk

Scope created something that should exist: bacon flavoured mouthwash. If it’s anything like Bacon Lube, which started off as a prank and ended up getting made, we should see this on the shelves soon. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc_iT1bSrJM

Honda’s mobility advancement lab added a hair dryer to its latest people mover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fEIHjuA4vk

Virgin launched a glass-bottomed plane. 

BMW launched its P.R.A.M, just in time for the royal wedding. 

The Vatican is undergoing a rebrand and The Illuminati choose Mother New York.

The Onion’s fake fakes, including the ‘old blood in the co-worker’s stool’ trick. 

Vimeo rebrands as Vimeow

And, going back a few years, one of the best ever: the great spaghetti harvest of 1957 from the BBC. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27ugSKW4-QQ

If you need some more, check out the collections of Adweek and The Guardian (and if you want to know how the internet is ruining April Fool’s, read this). And if you’ve got any more, add them to the list in the comments section. 

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