How to avoid bad pranks on April Fools’ Day
Celebrating the annual prank holiday the wrong way can have big consequences.
April Fools’ Day has been dubbed “the worst day on the internet.” What used to be a day for convincing your friends you’d been abducted by aliens has become a free-for-all for brands releasing fake products and announcements.
Credit where credit’s due: There are some amusing jests. But for every joke that gets a chuckle and a positive mention in a huge list of best pranks, there are a million opportunities to make a misstep that can haunt your brand.
As you consider participating in this annual celebration of all things unbelievable, keep these cautionary tales in mind.
Make good choices. We don’t want to write about you on April 2.
Don’t change the core function of your product
Google has a long history of April 1 pranks, including the gentle, harmless Google Tulip in 2019 which claimed to have cracked the code on talking with flowers.
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