Epic April Fools Pranks

Today was the 1st of April, otherwise known as April Fools Day. I had no idea that pulling pranks was okay for people working in corporations, governing institutions, or really anyone with a lot of public influence. Apparently, it's okay though, because I found an article on Time featuring the Top 10 April Fools' Pranks. These are some big pranks too. Some of my favorites are the 1957 Switzerland Spaghetti Tree incident, which is featured below.



The BBC made this report about spaghetti trees that grow in Switzerland, and people believed it and even asked how they could get their own spaghetti tree.

Another good prank took place in 1996 when Taco Bell purchased a ton of ad space in newspapers and claimed they had bought the Liberty Bell and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell. lol. According to Time, "The prank's real victims were hapless National Park Services manning the phones at the Liberty Bell. Unaware of the media blitz, they spent their April Fools' day reassuring Americans that no, their national monument hadn't been sold off to the highest bidder."



And then, just two years later, Americans proved to be even dumber when they literally bought into Burger Kings new "Left-Handed Whopper." The fast food chain announced this new burger that had moved all the condiments 180 degrees to accommodate all the lefties out there. What is even more sad that lefties buying this burger is righties taking precautions to get the correct burger. And no, no one realized they could just rotate the burger 180 degrees themselves because it is a circle.

These are all quite humorous, but I don't know that I agree with these big, trusted institutions playing a joke at a nation's expense. I think April Fools is funny when you fool your friend, but not so much when the general public is confused. Then again, anyone that believed the Burger King thing deserves to be confused.