So, April Fool’s Day has rolled around again. You will have undoubtedly fallen for some pranks, or perhaps committed some yourself. Nail varnish on the soap, whoopee cushions on the desk chair, and swapping the salt for sugar… we’ve all been there and have felt a little silly in the process!
Here at Bubble, we fell victim to some of yesterday’s pranks – evidently we’re not as savvy as we thought! So, in the spirit of the day, I thought I’d round up our top 5 online April Fool’s Day pranks of 2014 for you all:
5) Instawindow
In at number five is Guardian journalist Oliver Wainwright’s “Instawindow” spoof. The fake product claimed to turn miserable outdoor views into beautiful Instagram-filtered scenes using a tinted filter for your window. A hipster’s dream!
The best part? Instawindow is part of the government’s “Happy Homes” initiative. But to be fair… we all love a good filter don’t we? Sierra anyone?
4) CERN Switches To Comic Sans
Ahh, Comic Sans. The font that sends shudders down the spines of anyone with even the tiniest interest in design.
So imagine the uproar when people read the article on research organisation CERN’s website stating plans to change all of their communications channel so they exclusively use Comic Sans – the horror!
CERN’s Head of Communications James Gillies’ quote that he loves the font as it makes the letters look “all round and squishy” is hilarious!
3) PeoplePerHour Goes Sexist
One prank that got the Bubble office all riled up was a press release from PeoplePerHour explaining their decision to split the site into “MenPerHour” and “WomenPerHour” due to an increase in opposite sex cash disputes.
Halfway through our rant about how sexist and offensive the press release was, we sheepishly acknowledged that it was – in fact – a prank.
Boy, did we feel stupid…
2) British Government To Ban Selfies
Another newspaper prank, this time from the Metro. Complete with a tale of woe and a phony infographic, the faux news article revealed that the government was on its way to ban selfies.
According to the newspaper, UK citizens would only be allowed to post ten selfies a month, and would be fined £25 for each additional selfie posted.
All jokes aside, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea!
1) Google Wins April Fool’s Day
Unsurprisingly, internet giants Google came out on top for April Fool’s pranks, with a whole host of stories, gadgets and features that kept us entertained yesterday.
Firstly, Senior VP for Social Vic Gundotra announced that Google+ had added an “Auto Awesome Photobomb” feature allowing users to add images of David Hasselhoff to their pictures! They also announced a feature in their Translate function that allowed users to turn websites into emojis. Imagine the headache!
But that’s not all, the Big G also revealed that their digital media player Chromecast was created to empower squirrels, and allow them to watch their beloved Squirrel TV – adorable!
Finally, and perhaps the coolest prank of them all, was Google’s cryptic video suggesting they were on the lookout for Pokémon Masters. But smartphone users were treated to another surprise when opened their Google Maps app – 150 Pokémons hidden across the maps waiting to be caught and collected! Pokémon nerds – feel free to go crazy!
