April Fool’s Day or All Fool’s Day is celebrated every year on the 1st of April by playing practical jokes on people, in the UK the joke is revealed by shouting ‘April Fool’ remember though A person playing a joke after midday is the “April fool” themselves.
An April fool joke should be something everyone should find funny including the person it is played on – it should not be an excuse to be mean to someone or make them look or feel bad.
Here are a few April Fools from the past that made us smile:
April 1, 1995: Spoofing the increasingly complex regulations mandated by the European Economic Community, Polo Mints (“the mint with a hole”) ran ads in British papers announcing that “in accordance with EEC Council Regulation (EC) 631/95” they would no longer be producing mints with holes. This regulation supposedly required that all producers of “tubular foodstuffs” delete the holes from their products. To satisfy the regulation, all the existing stock of Polo mints would be supplemented with a “EURO-CONVERSION KIT” containing twenty 7mm “Hole Fillers” to be placed inside each Polo mint. A “detailed instruction leaflet” would also be included.
April 1, 1980: The BBC’s overseas news service reported that Big Ben, in order to keep up with the times, was going to be given a digital readout. The segment included people’s nostalgic reminiscences about the world’s most famous clock, such as anecdotes about the day it stopped and when it chimed 13 instead of 12. Finally, the service announced that the clock hands, being no longer needed, would be given away to the first four listeners to contact them. One Japanese seaman in the mid-Atlantic immediately radioed in, hoping to be among the lucky callers. However, the BBC was shocked when it then began receiving a massive volume of calls from listeners who were furious that Big Ben was going to be meddled with. “Surprisingly, few people thought it was funny,” admitted Tony Lightley of the service. The BBC had to spend several days apologizing to listeners for upsetting them.
April 1, 2002: The British supermarket chain Tesco ran an ad in The Sun announcing the successful development of a genetically modified ‘whistling carrot.’ The ad explained that the carrots had been specially engineered to grow with tapered airholes in their side. When fully cooked, these airholes caused the vegetable to emit a “97 decibel signal” indicating they should be removed from the stove. (97 decibels is roughly equivalent to the noise level of a jackhammer or pneumatic drill). Opponents of their carrots envisioned “a nightmare scenario for future generations becoming as deaf as a post, albeit with improved vision.”