Today, on the merriest of faux-holidays, it's wise not to believe everything you see--even if from a major Silicon Valley tech company.
As predicted, in a bid to generate more attention, a number of brands have introduced their own April Fool's Day pranks. Some, like "Mark Zuckerberg for H&M," get points for creativity and style. Others missed the mark and backfired--badly.
Ranked from best to worst, here's a round-up of April Fool's Day jokes we've come across (so far) from across the Web:
1. Mark Zuckerberg for H&M
The Swedish clothing retailer has spoof partnered with Mark Zuckerberg, the famed co-founder and CEO of Facebook, to roll out a line of plain grey t-shirts and blue jeans.
The tongue-in-cheek tagline: "One less thing to think about in the morning." Navigate to markforhm.com to see for yourself.
2. Pornhub gets corny
The popular pornography site re-branded as "Cornhub" on Friday, when users were greeted with images of corn. Clips were entitled, "Slob on the cob," and "hot young corn gets plowed," for example. (You could still navigate to the regular page at the click of a button.)
As TMZ puts explains it ever-so-eloquently: "Furious masturbators were probably a little more furious this morning."
Up next: a think piece from Pornhub on the benefits of ethically sourced food? (We're hoping not.)
3. The Duolingo fluency pillow
The language learning startup is advertising a spoof pillow that promises to make you fluent overnight.
We give it an A -, because let's be honest: $99 is a little steep, even for guaranteed perfection.
4. ThinkGeek's Sensory VR device will spray water on you
"Experts are predicting that by 2025, robots will touch you in VR," reads the voiceover for this new, gimmick product from ThinkGeek, an online retailer. "But why wait nine years to still only limit yourself to three senses?"
Yes, you read that correctly. The new, "sensory immersion generator" will enhance your experience by producing a billow of smoke, say, or by spraying you with water.
The catch is that it still requires a friend to mess with you in real-time.
5. Olacabs' mobile rooms
The fast-growing ride sharing startup, based in Bangalore, India, says it will convert its cars to on-demand rest spaces for wary travelers.
"Unwind in our ergonomic furnishings that give you the option of sleeping on your back, or sitting up straight,” promises Ola's 'interior dictator,' Shyam Bedappa, in a YouTube video announcing the faux feature.
That irony, here, is that Ola's mobile rooms do resemble the very real business model behind Breather, an on-demand room booking app jointly based in Montreal, Quebec and New York City.
6. Vibrator company re-brands to connected cat toys
Lioness, a startup that makes vibrators to "empower self-discovery," announced a fake pivot to smart cat toys on Friday.
"I've heard one too many stories about kitties becoming easily bored with cat toys," said the startup's CEO Liz Klinger. "We created this toy to make sure that cats will always be mentally and emotionally stimulated."
Features include an ergonomic design for kitty to enjoy, a tracker to note kitty's physiological patterns, and, of coures, a in-built laser pointer.
7. Jesper the ultimate minimalist watch
Urban hipsters rejoice: At last, a watch so sleek it doesn't actually tell time. This Kickstarter already has 8 backers, pledging a collective $699 (out of a $5,000 goal.)
8. Lyft has a prank mode
The San Francisco ride sharing startup launched its own prank mode on Thursday, where users could request that a Lyft driver pull a practical joke on an unsuspecting friend.
See below how basketball MVP Andre Iguodala tricked his teammate, Festus Ezeli, into believing he'd been let go from the Golden State Warriors.
9. Honda Civic rolls out Emoji license plates
The car company unveiled fake plans to introduce emoji license plates to its cars in the U.K., after "research reveals demand among younger drivers for a new kind of plate," reads a press release.
The technology giant faced an epic fail on Friday, when it's new 'Mic Drop' feature -- where users could respond to Gmail messages with a GIF of a snarky minion dropping a microphone, and thereby ending any future correspondence on the email chain -- backfired, and badly.
Multiple users alleged that the new feature caused them to lose out on potential job opportunities. "I just sent off an email with my resume to the first person who wanted to interview me in months," wrote one dissatisfied user in a Google Help forum. "I clicked the wrong button and sent it with the mic drop. Well, I guess I'm not getting that job."
Another, a writer, claims to have lost his current job due to the feature. "I am a writer and had a deadline to meet. I sent my articles to my boss and never heard back from her. I inadvertently sent the email using the 'Mic Drop' send button. There were corrections that needed to be made on my articles and I never received her replies. My boss took offence to the Mic Drop animation and assumed that I didn't reply to her because I thought her input was petty (hence the Mic Drop). I just woke up to a very angry voicemail from her which is how I found out about this 'hilarious,' prank," he posted.
The feature was taken down early in the morning on Friday, less than 12 hours after being introduced.
Better luck next time, Google.
