March 31--It's that day of the year again.
You know, the day of trickery known as April Fools' Day, when some companies get a little goofy and so do some of their employees.
Virgin America got started early this year, releasing a logo on Thursday shaped like a bra. The company announced the move on its corporate blog, complete with a video of founder Richard Branson and team members brainstorming on new logos mainly shaped like human private parts.
It's a decidedly different sort of prank than last year, when the airline announced the launch of service to Branson, Mo.
The maker of the Roomba vacuum, iRobot, announced it joined with Zumba Fitness to add a little pep to domestic chores. The company said four lucky consumers could win a custom-made "ZumbaRoomba" designed to take the drudgery out of domesticity by playing dance tunes as it cleans the floor.
And Oregon-based Soft Star Shoes said it's launching special sneakers, known as "JOLT," that send a jolt of electricity to the lazy and idle to encourage them to get moving.
Lexus is introducing a new technology, "Variable Load Coupling Rear Orientation" or "V-LCRO," that holds drivers in place during aggressive maneuvering. V-LCRO, get it?
Some firms are taking another tack -- broadcasting ideas for workplace pranksters in need of ideas.
Stumped on how to make your colleagues laugh (or cringe)? Nuts.com, an online marketplace for bulk nuts, suggested swapping out the coffee grounds at the coffee maker for chia seeds.
Of course, these jokes are all laughs -- until they aren't.
Before planning pranks in the office, workers are advised to be aware that different people appreciate different kinds of humor, said Paul White, a psychologist in Wichita, Kan.
"The key ... is being able to see a situation from another person's point of view," White said. "One of the questions you should ask yourself is 'how would I feel if this happened to me?'"
If your response is, "I'd laugh," then White advises to ask, "How do I think this person will react?"
White said he's not suggesting that people avoid humor and jokes at work altogether. The jokes just need to be appropriate, he said. "It needs to be healthy and fun, rather than fun at someone's expense."
crshropshire@tribpub.com
