Believe it or not but everyone likes a good April Fools’ Day prank even though they might detest being called a fool. It’s one day in the entire year when people not only welcome jokes but also expect brands to come up with fresh and ingenious pranks. And brands never fail to oblige them.
This year too we saw many brands coming up with creative ad campaigns that made a complete fool out of many people- trust me, I know some of those gullible fellows who took these campaigns for real! So, here are the 5 funniest and most creative 2023 April Fools’ Day commercials that got people thinking about whether this was a joke or not.
1. Peacock & Duolingo: Love Language
Language learning app Duolingo has been at the forefront when it comes to dishing out funny, quirky, and creative April Fools’ Day ad campaigns. And this year was no different as it joined hands with the American video streaming platform, Peacock, to release a fake TV series trailer that most people would certainly watch.
I mean what’s there not to believe? Ten sexy singles living under the same roof in some distant paradise where they spend their time in skimpy bikinis, drinking cocktails, and trying to communicate with one another as none of them speaks each other’s language. Could you really blame the fans for believing this? Even I thought this was real until I saw the goofy Duolingo parrot engaging in its usual mischiefs like pushing off people- sometimes into the swimming pool, sometimes from the terrace!
2. La Vie: La Mort
Most plant-based food brands seem to be a bit touchy about certain issues. So, it was heartening to see the UK-based vegan food brand La Vie lighten up for the April 1 trickfest.
The brand released an ad that combined a fake product with the much-hyped “meat is murder” message. In the ad, the company introduces a sub-brand called La Mort, which is pure meat. The ad is full of deadpan, dark humor. “Made from 100% dead animal”- that really cracked me up😂
3. Airthings: Sniffing Out the Bullshit
Air quality monitoring company Airthings released an April Fools’ Day ad announcing its plans to release a device called the Airthings Bullshit Detector.
The state-of-the-art sensor tech was said to be capable of identifying all kinds and strains of bullshit, from innocuous lies to downright infidelity. There’s a possibility that many people might have found it credible not because they believed in such technology but because they actually wished that there was something similar available.
4. Yd: The Survival Suit
Menswear brand Yd rolled out an ad this April Fools’ Day about whose authenticity we are still not sure.
The Survival Suit, as they call it, is equipped with a whistle, device charging power bank, an emergency ‘get fresh quick’ kit, and sunglasses. Put on the Survival Suit and you can go straight from your office desk to the disco, the kebab van, everywhere in between!
Sounds too good to be true? Maybe, it is!
5. Tinder: No More Fish Pics
While in 2019 Tinder came down hard on height frauds, this April Fools’ Day, the dating app decided that it had had enough of people posting pictures with fish.
Tinder announced on Twitter that it will start removing all photos of members holding sea creatures big and small, making Tinder the first dating app to go “fish free. While the dating app was surely joking about the move, I think that would have been a good decision. I mean, who the heck posts pictures of them holding a slimy fish? That has got to stop, for sure!
Wrapping Up
And that was a wrap of the best 2023 April Fools’ Day commercials. Like every year, brands came up with some insanely funny campaigns that gave all of us a hearty laugh and panic attacks to others! Hopefully, this will give marketers an idea about what really works in the advertising industry.
We’ll be back with more awesome commercials for you. Till then, stay tuned!