If you have a busy lifestyle, it can be easy to forget the date, or the significance of the first day of April. It means today you may have already been confronted with a number of perplexing posts on social media, and even regular media.
Popular for pranks and celebrated annually on April 1, April Fools’ Day has origins dating back to at least the 16th century. One popular theory links it to France’s 1582 adoption of the Gregorian calendar, which moved New Year’s Day from April 1 to January 1. Those who continued celebrating the old date were mocked as, “April fools.”
If you did happen to remember that today is April Fools’ Day, you may have spent the day on high alert, waiting for friends, family or colleagues to pull the wool over your eyes.
It can also be a tricky day for those with serious news to share, as people are wary about unexpected updates.
We’re of the belief the day should only be used in good humour, so we’re loving all the brands who chose today to share clever ideas that may have had their followers scratching their heads, but ultimately resulted in providing a good giggle.
If you’re like us, you may have even had to click into the comments of a number of posts to decipher (gullible? us?!) what was really going on.
Here are some of the best jokes we’ve seen from brands and organisations today:
Virgin Australia
The airline played on the idea of emotional baggage, saying they would check yours for good.
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Bourke Street Bakery
The popular Sydney Bakery added a spicy twist to their famous treats by appearing to offering up naked baking lessons.
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City of Melbourne
Flinders Street Railway Station is a recognisable part of Melbourne’s inner city, its facade and famous clock well over a century old. Today, it was announced the clock outside the station is moving to a digital format.
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Ruby
In recent years the Kiwi fashion brand has turned its Matilda cardigan into an icon, always a hot-seller with new colours highly-anticipated. The brand shared today this year’s batch had all been shrunk.
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Lewis Road Creamery
Coffee lovers may be unhappy they won’t be able to wake up and wash their hair with Lewis Road Creamery’s caffeine-infused haircare, but it was a fun idea!
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Contiki
Travel company Contiki, known for its adventurous, budget-friendly hosted tours in a variety of countries around the world, announced it was releasing a fragrance that turns the experience into scent.
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Waikato University
Known for being located in prime dairy country, Waikato University said it was introducing a number of ‘campus cows’ as part of an eco-friendly lawn care team.
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New Zealand Football
In one that might be confusing unless you’re a fan, the organisation played on the age-old debate over whether the sport should be known as football, or soccer. The term ‘soccer’ is primarily used in countries where another sport is called ‘football,’ but the arguments between can be fierce, especially if you’re a fan of UK or European leagues.
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Subway
We’re picking there will be some actual fans of this idea, but Subway teased an announcement of a hot chip butty in collaboration with BirdsEye, to their sandwich lineup.
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Pic’s Peanut Butter
Would you apply your peanut butter to your toast from a stick?
