April Fools Day: 'Brain Balm' to 'Flying Selfies', how brands pranked us this year
Fake products and fake promises from brands, all done in good fun in the spirit of April Fools Day
It's April Fools Day and our guards are up! We're taking everything we hear with a brick of salt today. If April Fools Day pranks from families, friends and colleagues weren't enough, we have the brands joining the trolling bandwagon.
Every year, brands celebrate the spirit of the "festival" by unleashing some neat tricks—some obvious some not so obvious—on the unexpecting. Nothing's off the table for the brands who will fool the audience with promises of fake products, prank videos, social media stunts and dubious promotions. But it's all done in good fun.
The point is to generate some buzz, reinforce the brand personality and connect with the consumers in a light-hearted, fun way as long as it's in good taste.
Here are some of the pranks we saw from brands on April Fools Day so far.
Abhibus & ixigo
Ixigo & AbhiBus teamed up to launch "a new technology for travellers to capture their moments with its new drone selfie stick called as FLYFIE." The fictional product is a drone for your phone that captures selfies while being airborne. We wish this were real.
Ajio
Fashion e-retailer Ajio's April Fool prank is for the history books. The company has "launched" the revolutionary FutureFits, garments that can change colour, shape and style at the wearer's will. Where do we sign up?
Amazon Prime
Jackie Shroff pulled a prank on behalf of Amazon Prime with a reel introducing the "Jaggu Dada" mode.
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Blinkit
Blinkit broke hearts this April Fool's with a mean prank at the expense of Cadbury Bytes lovers.
it’s finally here!!!! ?? pic.twitter.com/yegl4jUKJB
— Blinkit (@letsblinkit) April 1, 2024
Bikaji
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boAt
Despite smarting from the backlash from Apple fans, boAt has taken another potshot against its snobby rival today on April Fools.
What’s even more foolish than forgetting your smartwatch before your run? ?
— boAt (@RockWithboAt) April 1, 2024
Forgetting your Airdopes?#AprilFoolsDay
Delhi Police
Delhi Police Delhi Police never fails to amaze people with their cool and Gen-Z approach towards social media awareness on crime and fraud. This one makes people cognizant of how they can prevent falling prey to cyber crime.
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Disney+ Hotstar
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Dominos
Dominos has put out a clever creative for all the pesky friends who demand "party" for every inconsequential thing.
Time to say, “Domino’s treat on me!” to my bestie! #AprilFoolsDay #DominosIndia pic.twitter.com/O9FKpuG6LN
— dominos_india (@dominos_india) April 1, 2024
Faasos
Faasos' pulled a fast one on its followers for April Fool's with the promise of a free roll.
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Haldiram's Nagpur
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Farmley
Farmley has unveiled an "exclusive product" so good that we're sad that it's just a prank. The almond-infused, memory-boosting "Brain Balm" boasts of many things. "No more forgetting passwords, no more forgetting anniversaries, no more forgetting where you parked your car, no more forgetting to soak almonds in the night," reads its laundry list of benefits. If only this weren't a prank.
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Paper Boat
In its signature style, Paper Boat brought back some nostalgia with an animated film for April Fools.
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Swiggy
Food delivery app Swiggy has made a controversial declaration against India's favourite beverage: "I'm gonna quit drinking chai from today."
i’m gonna quit drinking chai from today pic.twitter.com/VPiXbQ0mN0
— Swiggy (@Swiggy) April 1, 2024
Swiggy Instamart
Instamart celebrated the day by paying homage to the greatest prank ever played.
Happy April Fool's Day? pic.twitter.com/kEsPR3TE2g
— Swiggy Instamart (@SwiggyInstamart) April 1, 2024
This was probably the most fun April Fool’s prank as most of us started to do the math. Did you fall for this too?
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Tide
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Pocket FM
This April Fool’s Day, Pocket FM has come up with a "crime thriller audio series made exclusively for animals".