Are you contemplating an April Fools’ Day PR stunt or announcement? Did someone suggest it would be a good way to help build awareness for your company? While some companies can pull these spoofs off well, it is not a simple matter and those considering joke press releases, fake product announcements or a company prank should consider the potential unintended consequences.
We have provided guidance on this topic in the past with the following posts:
- Joke’s on You: Should You Leverage April Fools’ Day?
- The Joke Press Release – Is it appropriate for April Fools’ Day?
- Planning an April Fools’ Day Spoof Announcement? Think it Through …
- Don’t Be Fooled on April 1
Last year Tesla announced the release of a Tesla Watch; however, the impact was mixed, some fell for the stunt, while others were able to avoid being tricked. The not so lucky ones are referenced in Mashable’s article, “Tesla probably ticked off some of its stockholders with its April Fools’ joke. ” Mashable wrote that “Four minutes before the end of the trading day, Tesla put out a tweet and blog post with the headline: ‘Announcing the Tesla Model W.’ The announcement was quickly picked up by a couple publications and briefly sent Tesla’s stock up by about 0.75%.” After covering the news, a Reuters’ spokeswoman stated, “We have withdrawn the headlines and regret putting out the material.”
If you, however, decide to move forward with an April Fools’ Day PR prank, you may find some inspiration from this recap of some of the best April Fools’ Day pranks of 2015 from ComputerWorld, April Fools’ Day prank roundup (2015).
We’ll be watching for some fun announcements on April 1, as well as some that may not turn out as intended. We’d love to hear from you on what spoof announcements make the grade and which ones miss the mark. Feel free to post a comment with your thoughts.