April Fools’ Recap

April Fools’ Day comes once a year on the first day of April, often catching people by surprise.  The day is full of pranks, practical jokes and foolish tricks. If you are not on your toes when this day arrives, you may be duped.

One prank that made national headlines in 1994 involved the National Public Radio when they claimed that teenagers were accepting offers to tattoo their ears with corporate logos to get a lifetime 10 percent discount. Taco Bell also fooled the mass public in 1996 when they advertised that they bought the Liberty Bell and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell.

Even though most pranks are made in good fun, April Fools’ Day jokes often go wrong. This year, a woman thought she would pull one over on her teenage daughter and texted the girl from work, claiming she had been taken hostage. The daughter, convinced that her mother was in true danger, called the police to report the incident. The police showed up at the woman’s restaurant with a SWAT team in full force and demanded the woman and her “captor” to come outside. This is a costly – and not even humorous – prank that could have ended much worse.

April Fools’ jokes should be thought-out before they are implemented. Use good judgment when pulling pranks and think about potential outcomes. Don’t end up making yourself the fool!

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed. — Mark Twain