April Fool’s Day is an opportunity for brands to harness the power of PR, social media and digital marketing to create humorous campaigns to prank consumers once a year.
We’ve seen brands tease us many times before with new product releases, to determine whether they would be well-received. From spreadable Yorkshire Tea in 2019, to Burger King’s ‘chocolate whopper’ in 2018 which actually later made its way onto menus in certain restaurants, brands have pulled out all the weird and wonderful stops to see how the UK public would react.
We’ve compiled some of the best bizarre pranks of this year:
McDonald’s milkshake sauce pots
We all know that some maccies lovers like to dip a chip into their milkshake, creating a salty-sweet combo. In a bid to bring the idea to life, McDonald’s shared the news that they were launching mini sauce pots in the flavour of their milkshakes.
Although it was a great opportunity to test the water and gauge customer’s reactions, it was just a joke!

MaliBRU
This April, Malibu rum and the Scottish classic Irn Bru got people excited for their partnership with a new canned cocktail – MaliBRU.
With thousands of people loving the idea, and demanding it to be released, the brands announced the clash wasn’t real. Watch this space as we might very well see the Scottish summer cocktail lined on supermarket shelves one day.

Thorpe Park’s Lost Souls Pop-Up
The renowned Thorpe Park played the public with its claim to open a ‘Lost Souls Pop-Up’ store, which would see the brand flogging old, lost shoes that have been collected from beneath its rides.
From Pumas to Dunks and New Balances, Thorpe Park has us all fooled that the new shop would become a part of the attractions as its thrilling theme park.

If you’re looking for PR support, to adapt and implement new strategies, strengthen your brand and business then contact us today at Jennie Holland PR.