Yesterday was April 1st and as usual, that meant April Fool’s jokes abounded. And the Internet loves good jokes. This year we saw more brands getting in the spirit of the day by announcing fake products, fake policy changes, and even fake movies. Were these efforts successful? In short, yes.

Why are jokes and fake announcement from brands acceptable? First, they were only acceptable because it was April Fool’s Day; any other day and the brands would likely be criticized. Second, because most of these jokes were done in the tone of the brand voice and aligned with what you might normally see from the brands, so people were sucked in and delighted when they had been fooled. Third, because people like to laugh and when they laugh, they want others to laugh so they pass the joke around. This social sharing is what really made the jokes worth it for the brands to concept and execute on this day only. This from the Harvard Business Review sums it up nicely:

“If you think about it, even a joke that’s just okay is going to get more positive attention for your brand than almost anything else you could do today, or this month. Let’s stipulate that the humor behind your prank is the self-effacing kind that plays on your own quirks rather than the cruel, “kick me” kind that makes sport of your victim’s gullibility. In that case, you are striking exactly the tone that social media applauds brands for in other instances. Indeed, your April Fools’ gag will see plenty of extra amplification, as media from ABC News to Huffington Post to Time aggregate examples in their April Fools’ Day coverage.”

What brands participated this year?

  • Twitter announced that users would have to start paying for the use of vowels.
  • Google announced an olfactory product that allowed users to smell scents from their computers.
  • Google announced Gmail Blue, a Gmail where everything was blue.
  • Vimeo turned into Vimeow, a channel for cat-only videos.
  • Scope announced new bacon-flavored mouthwash (see video below).
  • Sony announced headphones for cats.
  • The list goes on and on. You can find a nice round-up of the best brand pranks here.

While Internet pranks have the potential to back-fire, April Fool’s Day is one day when users expect the jokes and love laughing and passing them on. Thumbs up to the brands that participated and made us laugh.