Media April fool stories may be a little thinner on the ground in an era where “fake news” has become a concern, and at a time when a global pandemic makes judging the tone trickier.
The Telegraph chose 1 April to announce that Barnard Castle was intending to add a lifesize statue of Dominic Cummings to the estate, while the Sun returned to the row over Harry and Meghan’s Oprah Winfrey interview by suggesting that Justin Welby officiated over their “secret” pre-wedding while acting as an Elvis impersonator. The Guardian’s own joke, in light of the recent Ever Given grounding, was that there were plans to build a second Suez canal to avoid a similar situation happening again.
Away from the news industry, as you’d expect, brands have also returned to pretending to launch April fool products with gusto after many took a pause last year.
The Teletubbies have caused some consternation with an apparent move into cryptocurrency with “HugCoins”. While the lovable characters’ Tubbytronic Superdome house sits in an idyllic green landscape, cryptocurrencies have been widely criticised for their negative climate impact, making it a slightly odd brand match. However, the environmental impact of “HugCoins” is meant to be more benign, with the company behind the Teletubbies promising to donate a dollar to charity every time a hug is shared on social media with the hashtag #TubbyCoin.
Eh-Oh...what could the Teletubbies be possibly hiding from us? Stay tuned for something BIG this week. 🚀 #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/fJ2NBXsENx
— Teletubbies (@TeletubbiesHQ) March 31, 2021
Children’s TV aficionados were concerned by the unexpected announcement from CBeebies that the much-loved presenter and actor Rebecca Keatley was leaving the channel for preschoolers to join the cast of the rather rougher and tougher Peaky Blinders. Also from the BBC, 6 Music has horrified maudlin regular listeners by insisting on playing out-and-out pop music all day.
If you fancy something higher-brow, then the Antigone Journal is a recently-launched publication to promote knowledge of the classics which has indulged in an elaborate series of scholarly articles about a supposedly newly discovered fragment of verse by Ovid.
The lead singer of the Charlatans, Tim Burgess, has gained lockdown fame over the last 12 months for his Twitter album listening parties, and he pranked fans with the offer of “Sproston Blue” T-shirts, a joke based on the band’s fan favourite song Sproston Green, which frequently closes their live sets. However, it turned out that the joke T-shirts were in fact a genuine limited edition.
A meta April 1st t shirt thang. We said we were making Sproston Blue T shirts - thing was, when you went to order, they were real. A limited edition of 100. Did you get one? pic.twitter.com/10rRROY3DF
— Tim Burgess (@Tim_Burgess) April 1, 2021
As well as sitting at home listening to records, another big pandemic trend has been getting food delivered. Another April fool gag that has also become a real product is the McDonald’s sharing portion of chips. If you order from their app today you can add an extra portion of free french fries to just hand to whoever is inevitably going to pinch some of yours.
Pizza Hut meanwhile has announced a new fleet of scooters equipped with their own mini ice cream factories. “The Absolutely legen-dairy bespoke bikes”, as they’ve been billed, claim to offer all the flavours you used to be able to access in Pizza Hut’s in-store ice cream machines.
Is the milk used in the ice cream organic? Maybe you can find out with the use of Yeo Valley Organic’s “Moo-R” codes. The company says it has shaved the codes into its 400 Fresian cows. Scanning one takes you to a website purporting to be a social network for the herd. Buttercup, for example, claims to be into eating plants, drinking water, and listening to jazz moo-sic.
If ice-cream isn’t your fancy, you can always snack on potato waffles. Birds Eye and Morphy Richards have released details of a product they claim is uniquely shaped to toast potatoes waffles, and nothing else, perfectly.
If you need something to wash your food down with then there are plenty of options, and apparently from Thursday you can get wine delivered Santa Claus-style down your chimney by drone. Garçon Wines, who make sustainable, flat wine bottles that can be pushed through the letterbox, were concerned for people who have fireplaces but not letterboxes.
#LetterboxWine has been a hit in allowing the hassle-free delivery of wine into the home... But we don't want those who don't have a letterbox to miss out on this ultimate convenience. That's why we're so thrilled to introduce our latest innovation - Chimney Wine! 🍷🏠 pic.twitter.com/uTNcO4SKhZ
— Garçon Wines (@GarconWines) April 1, 2021
Just be careful you don’t drink the organic gin eau du parfum that one gin brand says it is launching.
And finally, Lego has promised an end to one of the most painful experiences of being a parent – stepping on a brick.
Never step on a LEGO brick again! SmartBricks, coming soon... pic.twitter.com/enRuvdGYjP
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) April 1, 2021
