Five Brands That Got April Fools Social Media Pranks Right

Photo: Akshay Anand/Pexels

Annual events like April Fools’ Day are ripe for brands to try pranks on social media. Often these efforts (at best) fall flat, with the risk of making the company look utterly ridiculous (Volkswagen/Voltswagen anyone? Or maybe when IHOP tried rebranding as the International House of Burgers). This year five small to midsized brands succeeded in at least producing a chuckle, with one evolving a stunt into an impressive product debut.

Funko
While Funko is well known for creating collectibles based on pop culture, they decided to take a shot at current events. They “introduced” a new product based on the Evergreen, the boat that became stuck in the Suez Canal, with mascot Freddy Funko at the helm. (They referred to their vessel, though, as the “Everettgreen”).

Fans enthusiastically commented on the Facebook post that they would buy this if it were real, especially if the ship came with a backhoe to dig it out. The best fan comment, though? “It’s probably going to get stuck in shipping.”

TX Whiskey/Chowdaheadz
A couple of regional brands took shots at neighboring states as well as themselves. Fort Worth, Texas-based TX Whiskey announced they were moving north to Oklahoma so they could be known as “OK Whiskey”. Their new slogan takes a shot at not only Oklahoma-produced whiskey, but also the old state slogan of “Oklahoma is OK” which for years frustrated Oklahomans and amused Texans.

Massachusetts-themed apparel maker Chowdaheadz introduced, well, chowder, on April 1. It promised only the best clams from the bottom of Boston Harbor, prompting at least one response of “I wouldn’t eat anything out of the hahbah”.

Traeger Grills
Traeger, whose product line includes pellet-fueled smokers, took on Peloton by introducing the Pellet-On, which allows users to power their smoker with a bicycle. (“Only have time for a quick session? A roast chicken should do the trick. Ready for an all-day ride? Sounds like a good excuse to smoke a whole pork shoulder.”)

The joke went the extra mile by directing potential peddlers to an informational web page that even had an “ADD TO CART” button. Thankfully (or maybe regretfully), clicking on the button only produced a “Happy April Fools from Traeger” pop-up banner.

El Arroyo
Austin, Texas’ El Arroyo restaurant is well known for its margaritas and Tex-Mex style food, but it’s become world renown for the marquee sign that sits out front with a regular rotation of witty messages.

April 1 brought a video on the restaurant’s Instagram page showing…nothing. The famous sign had gone missing, eliciting responses ranging from a local boot maker volunteering to form a search party to near heart attacks, with one commenter saying, “The rage I just felt before reminding myself about the calendar is why I HATE APRIL FOOL’S DAY.”

The sign was finally “located” and in a brilliant partnership reveal, another Instagram video showed the sign displaying the message “I was lost, but now I’m found. Free YETI lowballs & margarita tokens!” The drone shooting the video pulled back into a wide shot, showing the sign was in the massive flagship store of YETI in downtown Austin. The next photo in the Instagram carrousel showed the El Arroyo-branded YETI cups that customers could pick up, along with a token for a free margarita at the restaurant.

Response was overwhelmingly positive, with many fans requesting to buy the products online. The restaurant says that they’re working on producing more of the creations, which they promise that “These bad boys keep your frozen or on the rocks margaritas colder than your ex’s heart.”