April Fools’ Day 2017: Our Roundup of All the Best Brand Hoaxes

April Fools’ Day falls on Saturday this year, which leaves brands caught between wanting to roll out their hoaxes on Friday, to reach the millions captive at their work computers, or waiting for the big day itself.

Here at AdFreak, we’re going to split the difference—cover all the good ones that come out on Friday, then update the list on Saturday and throughout the rest of the weekend.

Below, check out this year’s shenanigans. And email me and Tim with any good ones we missed.

 

Here’s a third batch of gags, added on the afternoon of April 1:

 

Airbnb

Say hello to the Humanless Host.

 

Chicago Cubs

The defending World Series champions faked a game on Twitter today. They actually open their season on Monday.

 

Doritos

The chip brand is now selling water. “You’re 60 percent water, make every drop of it bold.”

 

Dunkin’ Donuts

Remember the “Vanilla Nut Taps” joke from SNL’s Dunkin’ Donuts parody ad with Casey Affleck? Well, today only, Vanilla Nut Taps are available at participating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants throughout the country. They are a blend of an Old Fashioned Glazed Cake Munchkins donut hole treat, vanilla buttercream filling, butternut topping and finished with vanilla icing drizzle.

 

Francis Ford Coppola Winery

Mmm, wine powder packs. Just add water!

 

Funeralbooker

The funeral-direction search service has the darkest gag of the year, pretending to offer the U.K.’s first home cremation service.

 

Google Play

Introducing Google Play for Pets, a new category of games, apps and training tools to keep your pet stimulated.

 

Hurricane Grill & Wings

The restaurant chain has pioneered blue wings, “featuring the bold sweet flavor of blue raspberry with a hot kick of spice”!

 

McDonald’s

McDonald’s has invented the Micro Mac. Rather similar to the nano-slider from White Castle. Great video, stay for the jingle.

 

Moleskine

Check out the notebook docking station with PaperTricity!

 

Papa John’s

Papa John’s pizza is offering the garlic sauce by the gallon. Get a Garlic Gallon for just $9.99.

 

Pop Tarts

Who needs the tasty interior of Pop Tarts when you can have Just the Crust? It’s better for you!

 

Rosetta Stone

The language learning company has decided the world would be better off if everyone just spoke the same language. Seems self-defeating, but OK!

 

Virgin Atlantic

The carrier may be losing its name and becoming part of Alaska Airlines soon, but it’s still innovating—this time with the Dreambird 1417, a new aircraft that flaps its wings like a bird.

 

New additions, morning of April 1: 

 

Google

Google Chrome has created Google Gnome, an Alexa-like sassy gnome.

Google Maps has revisited a prank it did in 2015 and lets you play Ms. Pac-Man on your maps.

Google Netherlands released Google Wind, which will use windmills to blow all the clouds away from the Netherlands.

Google VR is now available for all five senses.

 

BMW

The automaker launched dDrive dog basket, a dog bed that simulates the thrill of driving on the open road. Great video.

 

Burger King

BK South Africa created a Whopper cologne.

 

Bush’s Baked Beans

They’re are offering a new flavor: jelly beans.

 

Cheetos

Developed a new spray-tan product that makes you radiate with the orange glow of Cheetos.

 

Ely, Minnesota

The town is taking on Uber with Canoeber. It’s like Uber, but for canoes.

 

GrubHub

The food delivery company has hired a fleet of highly skilled extreme sport GrubHub delivery athletes, including free-running and parkour athletes, BMX riders and skateboarders, for its new offering, Delivery X—delivery without limits.

 

Hallmark

Introducing HallMark-E, a hands-free, voice-activated, always-on “emotional assistant.”

 

Honda

Honda Canada created Honda Blend. It’s a blender for your cup holders along with a refrigerated glove box.

 

Ikea

Ikea USA has turned Smaland into Bigland, an adult playground with a bar and a Swedish massage station.

 

Jameson’s Irish Whiskey

They claim to have found a long-lost barrel that was created 230 years ago by their founder. But due to evaporation, there’s only one glass left. This one’s amusing.

 

Kars 4 Kids

They do a video every April Fools’ Day, and this time they’ve created an ad suggesting they give the cars you donate to actual kids to drive.

 

The Knot

The marriage planning website will be pranking their couples by informing them that due to their database being compromised, 500,000 wedding checklists were deleted on the site. Couples will have to login to see if they’re affected and then find out it’s a joke and get some free offers. Surprisingly mean for a marriage site!

 

Mall of America

The mall has introduced texting lanes. Now you won’t hold up traffic or slam into people while texting and walking. This is actually a good idea.

 

Mike’s Harder

Check out the keg in a can. It’s a long, long can that holds a keg. It’s also a blatant dick joke.

 

Paddy Power

The British sports betting company introduces the world’s first seahorse race.

 

Petco

Invented the DooDoo Drone. Let it swoop in to scoop your poop.

 

Redbox

Turned its red boxes into teeny tiny homes you can rent for $1.99 a night. Would you sleep in a Redbox Kiosk?

 

Reynolds Wrap

The brand is becoming Rizzo Wrap as a result of a bet with Chicago Cubs player Anthony Rizzo. However, the product is REAL and will be available as a limited edition in select Chicago stores in the summer. The cooking demos with Rizzo are also real.

 

Snickers

Via AMV BBDO, the candy is launching a new underwear range for men Sknickers.

 

Think Geek

April Fools is the biggest yearly promotion for ThinkGeek, and we cover them every year because unlike most other fools, ThinkGeek will turn their products into a reality if they see enough interest.

This year they’ve invented:
• The Hot Pocket Sleeping bag
• A Swear Jar that swears back at you
• The Tentacuddle Wrap tentacle blanket
• Where’s Barb? A Where’s Waldo sequal book
• The Swim Desk—exercise while you work by swimming
• The Westworld Full-body Snake Tattoo
• Copies of Shazam the movie
• The Bicycle Horn of Gondor
• The sassy Yass Cat-apult, a catapulting stuffed cat that shouts Yass

 

White Castle

Invented the single-calorie nano-slider. It’s the smallest thing in fast food.

 

Virgin

Virgin Australia created the first crew of canine flight assistants.

Virgin Trains has launched a new contactless ticket system.

 

Original story below… 

 

Alamo Rent A Car

Alamo has created a remarkable self-vacationing fleet of cars. This is probably an April Fool. They won’t confirm, but Alamo tries to fool us every year, and we remember.

 

Amazon Echo

With “Petlexa,” Alexa can now understand your pets, giving them “the freedom to place orders from Amazon and to activate smart home enabled toys.” Sounds like a terrible idea all around.

 

Analog Watch Company

Love your pets? Then why not have a watch made from their extra fur? Why not, indeed.

 

Auntie Anne’s

The pretzel maker has unveiled a new logo designed to appeal to Gen Z. They’ve replaced the halo over the pretzels with a flower crown in a logo that’s completely “lit.”

 

Bob Evans

The restaurant chain is launching a beauty line to give you the farm-to-body experience. Enjoy the Sausage Gravy Beauty Mask, Hotcake Rejuvenation Cream, Candied Bacon Body Mist and Wildfire BBQ Sauce Hair and Body Wash.

 

Buffalo Wild Wings

This restaurant chain is launching Rally Beard Sauce—scientifically designed to stimulate beard growth and help fans rally their team back from even the most lopsided deficit. Their Chief Sauceologist is here to explain. Also, bonus points for actually tying it to their new ad.

 

Burger King

In France, the fast-food chain released flame-grilled Whopper toothpaste to keep your mouth Whopper fresh. Great video.

 

Carrabba’s Italian Grill

This restaurant chain has a new Pomodoro Moisturizing Masque.

 

Chegg

The student textbook rental company created an energy drink called Chugg. It comes in three flavors—Bank Rupt, College Tears and Struggle Bus—but all of them taste like sick burns.

 

Cinemá Vertécal

Hey look, it’s the world’s first vertical movie theater! Perfect for millennials. RPA creatives had fun concepting this one.

 

Coffee-Mate

Check out coffee-flavored Coffee-Mate, so your favorite coffee can taste more like coffee!

 

Duolingo

They’re offering a new emoji language course, so you can learn important phrases in the world’s fastest growing language. Actually not a bad idea! And there’s a funny press release, too.

 

Evine

Cable shopping network Evine created a DIY goat milk soap kit that comes complete with baby goat. Just raise the goat until it’s old enough to milk, then start your “relaxing” soap-making process! It’s adorable, if not all too practical.

 

Fresh Direct

The food delivery service has created the pitless avocado. Avocado lovers everywhere rejoice!

 

Honda

The automaker and agency RPA dreamed up Horn Emojis, which offer range of horn sounds corresponding to various emoji faces. Honk if you love this one.

 

Ikea

Ikea Singapore hilariously announced that it would transform its Småland in-store playground into a “press-play-ground,” full of sitting pods with tablets, because kids “prefer tablets to physical activity.” The parental reactions on Facebook are priceless.

 

Jim Beam

“We’ve been making bourbon for 220 years, but some folks still call us Jim Bean. Hint taken. Introducing Jim Beans: aged one day in a tin can.”

 

KFC

In Canada, the chain has released the KFC Bucket, a voice-activated delivery system and smart dining assistant. The finger-lickin’ future is here.

 

Lexus

The automaker is introducing Lane Valet, which hijacks slow-moving cars in the left lane and forces them to move over, something which Wired has predicted could be possible.

 

Life Storage

The storage company is offering a storage unit called She Shed, the opposite of a mancave, for just $99 a month. They also have a good video that makes it look like a pretty good idea.

 

Lucid Mattress

Check out the bed of your memes—the Harambed, to honor Harambe’s legacy. Try to put one in your cart and you’ll get Rick Rolled in proper meme tradition.

 

Lyft

Ridesharing will never be the same with the Mono glove ride-hailing device. Stick out your thumb to hail a Lyft. While this is an April Fools’ joke, they do have a real working device, and if you’re in San Francisco you can get a free Lyft to a demo. Also, their video wins the award for best use of lasers.

 

Man Crates

Now offering Man Freights. Ship yourself along with a man crate to the man who means the most to you.

 

Mountain Dew

Dew endorser athlete Giannis Antetokounmpo pranked some fans by Facetiming them in a bus shelter, then Dew pranked him with a call from his childhood hero. Nicest pranks ever.

 

Newegg

Web retailer Newegg has created the world’s first nine-screen laptop: the MEgga.

 

Pizza Hut U.K.

Tired of boring old round pizza? This dodecagon pizza was inspired by Britain’s new 12-sided 1 pound coin.

 

Planet Fitness

Planet Fitness (via Hill Holliday) says it is partnering with the International Space Bureau to help find the solar system’s famed, elusive ninth planet—as long as it gets naming rights to call it Planet Fitness.

 

Pop Chips

These Donald Trump-inspired cheddar cheese Patriot Puffs are fake news with flavor. Grab ’em by the puff.

 

Prysm

This collaborative software company has created avatar: a drone-based communication system that lets you join conference calls as a full-sized hologram. Someday, this might be real.

 

Progressive

Now available: insurance for life … on Mars. Sign up for Red Planet Protection.

 

Quilted Northern

The toilet-paper brand has created uSit, the world’s first biometric bathroom device. It tracks your bathroom behavior, logging every sit and every log. It also lets you defend the throne with the battle sit feature. By Droga5.

 

SodaStream

Paris Hilton pitches the Nanodrop, a single drop of water that’s so hydrating, it’s equal to an entire glass of regular water. It’s 5,000 times more hydrating! More at nanodrop.org.

 

T-Mobile

Check out the T-Mobile ONEsie, “the world’s first full-body wearable that radically re-envisions the future of fashion, true mobility and the very meaning of unlimited coverage.”

 

Tough Mudder and Nulo Pet Food

These brands have combined to make Puppy Mudder. Worth it for the well-shot video of cute puppies completing the obstacle course.

 

Trulia

The real-estate brand is announcing listings for pets to give them a new pawspective on rental pawperties.

 

U by Kotex

Pads aren’t just for periods anymore. Check out these pad-shaped bandages featuring leak-catching wings.

 

USA Swimming

With help from Colle+McVoy, SwimToday developed a signature new fragrance, Eau de Chlôrine, “a powerful scent designed for athletes and goal crushers everywhere.”

 

Zappos

The first-ever unstealable package: The In Secure Box. Now, no one can steal your Zappos box off your porch… because it’s invisible.