April Fools 2024 Brand Campaign Roundups
It’s that time of year again… when every brand we know and love decides to lie to us, ruthlessly. On this day of deception, no Instagram feed, marketing email, or commercial can be trusted.
Through the years, we’ve seen a wide variety of outlandish pranks on April 1st. From Amazon’s Petlexa to Burger King’s Whopper Toothpaste; there is never a shortage of these ridiculously entertaining pranks. Today, I have rounded up five amazing pranks from April Fools 2024.
Number One: Adidas Box Shoes
In recent years, Adidas has been under fire for its garish designs and controversial partner, Kanye West. With all of this controversy, they harnessed it and combined both elements of this in a genius way. They uploaded a photo of their all-new “Box Shoes” on all of their social media platforms. This outlandish design was absolutely hilarious and truly pranked many followers. The product was also uploaded on their website, and the description reads, “Blurring the lines between product and packaging, these Adidas shoes are truly out of the box. The rectangular design takes cues from the original Adidas shoebox, creating the perfect silhouette for a [sic] experimental style. Styled with chunky laces, the sneakers are a statement piece that elevates every look.” What an incredibly hilarious way to poke fun at their own brand.
Number Two: Tinder VP of Ghosting
What’s something that happens every hour, every minute, every second on Tinder? Ghosting. Tinder acknowledges its users' flaws in this genius April Fools prank by announcing a new senior leadership position on their social channels. What is this position you ask? That would be the Vice President of Ghosting. Along with a video, Tinder released an official press release in which they described the need for the role, and the skills required. Some of the skills include; “Previous track record of being ghosted in a previous relationship, analytical abilities, problem-solving, tendency to go deep on internet sleuthing for a bestie, and ability to tell the difference between genuine interest and breadcrumbing.” Wouldn’t it be great if this was real?
Number Three: Scotch by Scotch
Scotch, a company that doesn’t usually venture into the edgier side of PR campaigns, released a hilarious April Fools post. On their social channels, they released an advertisement for “Scotch by Scotch.” The bottle includes a brand-appropriate tartan label with the Scotch logo prominently displayed. I must say, this one surprised me!
Number Four: Pringles and Olipop
Taking supermarkets and Instagram by storm, Olipop has shot up in popularity. It only fits that they partnered with another iconic brand, Pringles. They did a collaborative post for this April Fools featuring a new soda flavor, Sour Cream and Onion Olipop. The caption read “Sour Cream and Onion Pringles... in a soda? You bet! Indulge in the creamy richness of sour cream, the savory kick of onion, and the comforting heartiness of potato—all in a crave-worthy, salty, and utterly irresistible soda experience.... 🧅🤝🥤🫶☁️✨”
Number Five: Spotify’s AI DJ
If you haven’t tried Spotify’s DJ X yet, you’re missing out. In February of 2023, Spotify released an AI DJ who catered a radio-like experience to each user, suggesting music that may interest you. Every 5-8 songs, DJ X will introduce the next set of songs. On April Fools, DJ X said "It's been a pleasure being your DJ, [user name], and I just want to thank you for listening to my picks; it means a lot to me. This next set of music has lyrics that put my feelings into words far better than I can, so I hope you enjoy!" and then proceeded to play a Swedish yodeling song by the name of Ku Ku-Jodel by Oesch’s die dritten. This April Fools, which was purely audio, caught Spotify users by surprise.
There you have it! Five of the greatest April Fools pranks from popular companies in the year of 2024… From new drinks to items of clothing, we’ve got it all!
I wonder what “new products” we will get next year?
Anna Lindeboom is currently a senior at Grand Valley State University majoring in Advertising and Public Relations. Upon her graduation, she plans to continue her education at Grand Valley State University as a Graduate Student in Communications. She loves dogs, 80s hair metal, and cooking!