Warning, this has nothing to do with tutoring. Some love it, others deplore it. Either way, April Fools makes an impact on us. Instead of pranking the readers of this blog, let’s detail some of the worst pranks in history:
- Google’s “Mic Drop” Feature (2016): So, Google thought it’d be funny to add this “Mic Drop” button to Gmail, where you could send an animated GIF of a minion dropping a mic to end an email thread. But, oh boy, people accidentally clicked it in all the wrong places, sending that GIF in serious emails! It caused a ton of confusion and frustration, and Google had to quickly pull the plug on that feature.
- BBC’s Spaghetti Trees (1957): Imagine tuning into the BBC in 1957 and seeing a segment about a family in Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from trees. The Brits weren’t big on spaghetti back then, so many viewers totally bought it! They even called in asking how to grow their own spaghetti trees.
- Nissan’s Fake Recall (2011): Nissan thought it’d be a hoot to put out a press release about a recall for 100,000 cars because of a “melodious” horn problem. People were not amused. It just ended up making Nissan look bad and ticking off a bunch of customers.
- Burger King’s Left-Handed Whopper (1998): Burger King ran an ad claiming they had this special “Left-Handed Whopper” with all the condiments flipped for lefties. Some folks chuckled, but others took it seriously! Yeah, that joke didn’t quite land for everyone.
- Taco Bell’s “Buy the Liberty Bell” (1996): Taco Bell decided it would be a riot to announce in a newspaper ad that they bought the Liberty Bell and renamed it the “Taco Liberty Bell.” People thought they were serious! Taco Bell got a lot of heat for supposedly disrespecting a national symbol.
