Every year around April Fool’s day, brands use the day to come out with humorous advertisements for spoof products or services. Some are funny and make us laugh. Others are flops and even infuriate some customers.
This year of course was no exception. Much like the recaps of the best and worst Super Bowl commercials, it is sometimes fun to look back on what made us laugh and what made us cringe.
The Worst
Triwa YNGVE. We might as well start at the bottom, and we can’t get much lower than the Triwa YNGVE. Triwa put up a spoof blog post about the first DIY watch (think IKEA for timekeeping wrist wear).The blog post was not that funny, but hey, at least it was short.
Yo Stories. Nearly as bad is the offering from the nearly dead and particularly useless social media app “Yo.” The zombie-like app did resurrect itself to introduce the spoof “Yo Stories.” Much like the app itself, the article states that the best thing about “Yo Stories” is that they have no content. Thank God for that.
Roku Snack Suggest. Roku has a good product and a solid brand, and it was a shame to see them spill all over it with the Roku Snack Suggest. As useless as it sounds, the feature was supposed to pair snacks and films, a great idea in principle I suppose, but in my opinion it was short on taste.
Microtech Tool Kit. I like iFixIt, and even have one of their tool kits, and if they had named this prank “Honey, I Shrunk the Tools” it would have been slightly less tacky. Based on the principle that if your tech is going to get smaller, your tools should too, this prank just dropped the ball, so to speak.
The Harambed. If you know me at all you know that I am highly in favor of dad jokes, and this one is a full minute long and has the potential to be funny, but it just isn’t. I mean, let’s stop already with the Harambe jokes, m’kay? Just the name of this prank makes me tired.
The Best
Google Wind. Full of puns and humor, this spoof promises Google Cloud will work with the clouds, banishing bad weather from one of its bastions, Holland. Google gives no hint of where this weather might go. For the people of Holland, and all of those wishing to harness the power of Google to do good, one thing’s for sure. This prank did not suck.
Google Gnome. Smart cars? Check? Smart home? Check again. But what about the smart garden? Well, Google has an answer. The Google Gnome. From turning off and on the hose to telling the family who is outside what the weather is like, and a creepy answer about compost, the Google Gnome is sure to revolutionize our lives in the yard. Saying “Ok Google” has never brought you more joy, right down to the dog tickling the device by licking it.
Amazon PetLexa. We all know our pets communicate with us, but Amazon has a new plan: for them to communicate with Alexa via the Echo, even if you are not home. From the hamster sporting the FitBit to the cat ordering sushi from Amazon Restaurants, this prank was really a ball, literally for the dog I suppose.
T-Mobile Onesie. Living unlimited means total coverage, not just for your cell phone, but for your whole body. Made of T-Mobile 4G-LTE fibers woven into every stitch, the coverage of this onesie is unparalleled in the industry. The wearer will be their own hotspot, and the Christmas story pink-bunny-suit like colors make you stand out from the crowd. If only this was real, I would order one right now.
McLaren 570 GT Feather Wrap. talk about advanced biomimicry brought the automaker to bring a whole new meaning to flying low. 10,000 carbon fiber feathers individually applied by engineers, and only available on the 570GT, this fake option is the boa of the automotive red carpet. It was good to see that McLaren let their ideas take wing in this well-done prank.
What did we miss? Good, bad, or indifferent let us know what pranks you saw and enjoyed this year.
Troy is a Freelance writer, editor, and author who lives, works, and plays in Boise, Idaho where he hikes, cycles, skis, and basically enjoys the outdoor lifestyle of the Northwest. Troy writes about business, sports, GIS, Education, and more. He is most passionate about writing suspense thrillers, and his work can be found at https://www.amazon.com/Troy-Lambert/e/B005LL1QEC/